Can You Get Disability for Rheumatoid Arthritis in Wisconsin?

Symptoms and Evidence for Your Rheumatoid Arthritis Disability Benefits Claim

Proving that your case of rheumatoid arthritis warrants financial support from Social Security Disability requires demonstrating that you have specific symptoms that undermine your ability to work.

These are some of the RA symptoms that Social Security recognizes in a disability claim:

• Appetite loss
• Fatigue that slows your functioning
• Joint pain that lasts for long periods
• The same joint pain occurring on each side of your body
• Persistent swelling
• Stiffness in the morning that lingers into the day
• Inflammation that spreads to your organs

Your own reports of these symptoms and how they shape your daily life are important, but you also need independent confirmation of the severity of your rheumatoid arthritis from your doctors:

• A written record of your diagnosis
• Reports from medical exams
• Blood test results
• Medical imaging results
• Other medical test results
• Medical records documenting each symptom
• Treatment plans
• Doctor’s reports of how your condition responds to treatment

Your disability attorney helps you organize your information.

You can find out more about what it may take in your particular case to win Social Security Disability benefits for rheumatoid arthritis by talking to us at Geary Disability Law in Wisconsin.

Get a FREE initial evaluation of your rheumatoid arthritis disability claim.

Tips to Get Disability for Rheumatoid Arthritis

To make a strong claim for Social Security Disability for rheumatoid arthritis, these are some strategies we’ve seen succeed:

• Keep a journal of your experiences with rheumatoid arthritis so Social Security can see how flare-ups disrupt your life and ability to work.

• Collect statements from friends, family and others who personally know you about how they’ve seen RA affect your life.

• Stick with treatment. When you follow your doctor’s recommendations, but debilitating RA symptoms continue, it shows Social Security your case is serious.

• Make it clear if your RA hinders your ability to use your hands. Struggles with fine motor skills—like typing, handling tools or small objects—are persuasive to Social Security in deciding whether you can do a job.

• Emphasize in your disability application any affects rheumatoid arthritis has on major organs, like your lungs or your heart, in addition to your joints.

• With cooperation from you doctor, get an assessment of what Social Security calls your “residual functional capacity (RFC),” which is a measure of how much physical and mental activity you can do despite your health limitations.

Get a capable Social Security Disability lawyer to guide you through the steps.

People who deal with this process all the time, like the team at Geary Disability Law, know what information you need and how to present it to Social Security when rheumatoid arthritis has disrupted your life.

We do this because we want to see you able to worry less, rest and take care of yourself.

Contact Geary Disability Law.