Eligibility

• You must be eligible for disability benefits by having earned enough work credits for your age. A work credit represents payroll taxes paid on $1,120 of wages; you can earn up to four credits in a single year. The number of credits required rises with your age. Social Security also requires a minimum "duration of work," or years of paid employment within the past 10 years. If you do not meet these requirements, Social Security will deny your claim.
  
  

Medical Condition

• Approved Social Security disability claims must meet the following basic criteria: your illness or injury must have lasted, or be expected to last, at least 12 months, or to result in your death. If your injury can be healed with surgery, or your illness brought under control with medication, your claim will be disapproved. Social Security also has a Listing of Impairments, which includes each and every recognized condition for an approved disability claim.
  
  

Documentation

• You must document your disability with a record of medical treatment by a certified medical doctor. Social Security demands support for your claim that you can't work due to your disability in the doctor's notes, or on a questionnaire known as a Residual Functional Capacity form that your doctor can fill out. It also helps to have current treatment, as the agency's regulations require that recent medical records must be present in order for the adjudicator to make a decision on your claim. Disapproved claims lack convincing medical records, or show insufficient treatment of your claimed disability.
  
  

Timeliness and Cooperation

• You must cooperate with Social Security's demands for paperwork: forms such as the Disability Report, Function Report and Work History Report, for example, as well as records of your recent appointments and information on your treating physicians. If you are denied, you must appeal the decision within 60 days with a Request for Reconsideration; if you are denied twice, you must file a Request for Hearing, again within 60 days. You must attend the hearing and testify to an administrative law judge on why you are unable to work. Approved disability claimants pay close attention to deadlines, and attend any mental or physical examinations scheduled for them by Social Security.