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Social Security Disability (SSD) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applicants who are denied on their initial application for disability benefits; and the majority (about 70 %) are, have the option of filing an appeal with the state disability determination services (DDS) agency. This first appeal is called a request for reconsideration or review, and must be filed within 60 days of receiving the decision that the claim has been turned down. Unfortunately, an even greater number of appeals are turned down by DDS (this agency may go by a variety of names depending of the state, such as the bureau of disability determination or disability determination division or unit). Only about 15% of claimants who file an appeal with DDS receive a new decision (approval). Why are reconsideration appeals so unlikely to succeed? In a way it’s common sense: You submit the same information to the same agency and you will almost always get the same answer. In both initial applications and reconsideration appeals, it is the state disability examiner that considers the claim. The examiner has already read, evaluated and consulted with doctors before making a decision on the initial claim, so unless you have something new to add you are unlikely to get a different opinion. Also, it’s human nature to be reluctant to admit you have made a mistake, and disability examiners are, after all, only human. Why bother filing a reconsideration appeal if it stands such a monumental chance of being denied? The answer to this is that you have to file this appeal in order to get to the next level of appeal: a hearing before a federal administrative law judge. An administrative law judge is more likely to approve a disability claim than DDS, and if you are represented by a disability attorney or a good non-attorney claimant’s representative, your chances of winning disability benefits are about 60%--pretty darn good, considering the odds at all other levels of consideration. The request for reconsideration or review may seem like a waste of time, but it is a necessary step in the disability determination process, and only by completing this step can a claimant get their case moved out of the hands of a state disability examiner and into the hands of someone who may be more likely to award benefits—a federal judge who does not work for the DDS, and has no ego at stake in the initial decision to deny the claim. 
Social Security Disability and SSI Disability Information
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