Step 2: File Your Initial Application for Disability Benefits
You can apply for Social Security Disability online, by phone or in person at a Social Security office—and with help from a disability lawyer at Nash Disability Law who steers you away from common mistakes.
When you apply for disability, you need to…
- Fill out several forms about your personal background, your work history and your health.
- Explain your current work status.
What to expect next: In Illinois, a state agency called Disability Determination Services does the initial review of your application. It could take six or seven months to get an answer.
In a relatively small percentage of cases (30% in Illinois recently), you could get approved and start receiving benefits.
More often, you’ll receive a denial letter and move on to the next step.
Step 3: Appeal Your Denial of Disability Benefits by Asking for Reconsideration
Getting denied feels bad, but getting denied and appealing the decision are normal steps in the process.
First off, know this: YOU HAVE 60 DAYS TO START YOUR APPEAL.
You start your appeal by asking Social Security for what they call “reconsideration.”
You can send updates on your situation and more medical information.
Social Security will have someone new look at your claim to see if they reach a different decision from the claims examiner who denied you. This again takes several months.
Most of the time, they don’t change the decision. An overwhelming number of people still get denied at this stage.
This sets you up for the step where you may have a much better chance of winning benefits: a hearing with a Social Security Disability judge.
Step 4: Getting a Hearing with a Social Security Disability Judge
When your reconsideration is denied, you again have 60 DAYS TO FILE YOUR APPEAL.
You will ask for a hearing with a Social Security administrative law judge. It will again take several months to reach your hearing. The Chicago area hearing offices were taking at least seven months on average to hold hearings in 2025.
But once you get there, your odds of winning benefits are much better. The disability judges around Chicago were approving benefits around 50 percent of the time in mid-2025.
With a Social Security Disability attorney, your odds could be even better. A government study found that people with representatives at their hearings were almost three times more likely to win benefits as those who went on their own.
This is what Social Security Disability hearings look like:
- A small gathering in a conference room with you, your lawyer, the judge, a clerk for the judge and possibly vocational or medical experts to testify about your case.
- It can also be done by phone or video call, also with a small group of people in the meeting.
- The hearing is usually short, no more than an hour.
- Your lawyer handles the administrative business.
- The judge asks you questions about your life with the health impairments that make it impossible to work.
- A medical expert may talk about your health issues.
- A vocational expert may talk about what jobs you could or couldn’t do given your limitations.
- Your lawyer questions the medical and jobs experts to bring out more information on your situation, especially if they suggested you still could work.
When you have your hearing date, this is how you prepare beforehand:
- File updated medical evidence and other information about your case.
- Have your disability lawyer file arguments with the judge about why you should be approved.
- Meet with your lawyer to learn about the questions the judge may ask and how to answer clearly and honestly.
- Your lawyer can explain how to dress, when to arrive, and any other plans you need for a smooth hearing day.
What to expect next: It may take several weeks for the judge to send their decision.
- The judge could approve your benefits, in which case they will start soon.
- They could also give you a “partially favorable” decision. What does that mean? Your benefits will still start soon, but you may receive less back pay for the time you’ve been waiting because the judge decided your official disability started later than you originally said.
- The judge could deny your benefits. But it’s still not over. You can go on to the next step of appealing.
Step 5: Asking for a Disability Review by the Social Security Appeals Council
You can appeal again. Now you’re getting deeper into legal technicalities.
Your next step is to ask a group at Social Security called the Appeals Council to review the administrative law judge’s decision.
This means pointing out legal errors the judge made in the way they weighed your evidence or the process they ran. Once again, you’ll wait months for this process to unfold.
Here’s what to expect when you’re going to the Appeals Council:
- You don’t go in person. It’s all done through paperwork.
- You can’t send updated medical information. This step is all about scrutinizing the judge’s decision based on the information they already had.
- Your lawyer will file legal briefs with the Appeals Council.
- The Appeals Council could approve your claim, deny your claim, or the most likely positive outcome would be sending your claim back to the judge with instructions to hold a new hearing and re-do their decision.
- Most people get denied, yet again. But there’s still another chance.
Step 6: Appealing Your Social Security Disability Claim to Federal Court
Once you’ve gone to the Appeals Council, you’ve gone as far as you can within Social Security’s own decision-making process.
If you’re still denied for disability benefits, now you go outside Social Security and ask a federal judge to order a new decision. You know the drill: You have to wait again while this process unfolds.
- Again, federal court disability appeals are done through documents. You don’t talk to the judge in person.
- You can’t add new information or evidence to your case.
- You must have a lawyer admitted to practice law in federal court.
- Your disability lawyer will file legal briefs with the court.
- The judge could approve your benefits, deny your benefits, or most likely send your case back to Social Security with instructions to decide it differently.
After federal court, you’ve probably come to the end of your claim, whether it’s approved or not.
But there are a few more considerations to make. For example, if your health has significantly worsened since you last could update your medical evidence, it could be worth it to file a new claim.
What Happens Once Your Social Security Disability Benefits Start?
When you finally get approval, this is what happens next:
- You’ll get a lump sum payment in back benefits to cover all the months you waited when it turned out you were eligible for benefits the whole time.
- Your monthly checks going forward will begin as soon as Social Security’s next monthly payment date.
- For Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, if it’s been 24 months since the date you were first for benefits, you can get Medicare. Or you’ll wait however many months remain until you reach 24 months of disability eligibility.
- For Supplemental Security Income (SSI), you can get Medicaid right away.
SSDI monthly checks are based partly on your past income and vary widely from person to person. SSI monthly checks are a fixed amount established by the government minus other forms of benefits you receive if you have any.
But the most important thing that happens when you get Social Security Disability benefits is that you can live a life of more peace and stability.
Contact Skilled Chicago Disability Lawyers to Help You on Your Journey
The experienced Social Security Disability lawyers at Nash Disability Law can help you every step of the way.
- Nash Disability Law has helped thousands of people for over 40 years.
- We’re the top Illinois-based and Illinois-focused disability law firm, winning the most in total benefits.
- Talk to us to learn if you might qualify for benefits.
- Get us to help you apply for benefits and lighten the work for you.
- Get to represent you in your Social Security Disability appeal.
You don’t pay a fee to get a disability attorney working on your claim. You only pay when you win, out of your back benefits, and only up to a limit set by Social Security.
You can always start with a free conversation to see what you can expect in your individual disability benefits case.
To reach the end of the journey and more financial security, take the first step:
Contact Nash Disability Law Now.
Before you begin the application process, contact Nash Disability Law to improve your chances of winning benefits. Our staff has helped thousands of people in the greater Chicago metro area. Sometimes we are even able to get you benefits without a hearing.
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