Initial Application

• You file an initial application by visiting your local Social Security office and filling out a disability application. You can find the address of the nearest field office by navigating to SSA.gov, the agency's website, and clicking on "Find a Social Security Office," a button located on the left-hand side of the home page. Alternatively, you can dial Social Security's toll-free number, 800-772-1213, and apply over the phone. The operator will make an appointment for a Social Security representative to call you back and take the full application from you in a week or two. Social Security applications can also be filed online at SSA.gov. Click on "Apply for Disability Benefits."
  
  

Disability Report

• After you file the initial application, you must fill out a Disability Report. This 10-page form allows you to describe your disability, list your treating doctors, and give information on your recent medical appointments, hospital visits and medications. The Disability Report also gives you an opportunity to describe how the disability affects your work performance and your activities of daily living. You need to be as detailed and specific as possible when answering questions on this form.
  
  

Eligibility

• The Social Security Administration will screen your application for eligibility. The agency has your work history and data on the amount you've paid in to the system in the form of payroll taxes. You may not qualify for disability, as Social Security guidelines require a minimum number of work credits -- each issued for earnings of $1,120 in 2011, and up to four a year -- and a minimum "duration of work" carried out in the last 10 years. If you do not pass the disability tests, you may still be eligible for Supplemental Security Income, a means-tested benefit program that limits your resources and income.
  
  

Adjudication

• The file then travels to a Disability Determination Service, or DDS, where an adjudicator will examine your file, order medical records from your providers, and make the determination on your disability. Social Security requires a final review of the file by a medical doctor before the determination is made. The adjudicator may request additional forms, including a Work History Report, a Function Report or a Third-Party report in order to gather or confirm the information you've provided. After the determination, the file travels back to your local Social Security office and the agency mails a Notice of Decision to you.
  
  

Appeals

• If Social Security denies your application, you have the right to file a Request for Reconsideration within 60 days to appeal the decision. The file goes back to the DDS and is assigned to a different adjudicator. If you are denied twice, then you may file a Request for Hearing, again within 60 days. Social Security sends the file to an Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, where it assigns the case to a judge and schedules a hearing. You have the right to appear at the hearing in front of an administrative law judge in an attempt to get the claim approved. At all steps of the process, you have the right to an attorney to represent you.