Today I had my long-awaited social security disability hearing before a judge in Dallas. It was not what I expected. A court reporter showed us (my attorney and I) into a small room, and soon the judge came in. I prepared to rise but there wasn’t a bailiff and no one else rose. The judge did sit at an elevated station, was wearing judicial robes, and my attorney said, “Your Honor” a lot but other than that it seemed like a somewhat informal chat about my health.
I think it went well. The attorney thought so too. I found it interesting that the first thing the judge said was that he had reviewed my earnings history from IRS records and could not see why I would leave a job making $X per year to go on disability, unless I were truly disabled. Yeah. I’m not faking. I know, some people do, and it is his job to determine who is and who isn’t. After the hearing the attorney told me that income level, work history, and job stability are big factors, and that my situation seemed golden. Well, except for the disease and all. (I guess it is golden for her.)
In another positive exchange, after reviewing my medical file, complete with reports from a half dozen doctors, the judge asked my attorney, “Didn’t DARS (local Social Security that has denied me twice) have all these records?”
She said, “Yes, they did.”
He then asked, “Why did they deny him?”
His question may have been a bit rhetorical but she offered a theory, “Probably because of his age.”
He seemed to concur. I interpreted “his age” as being young, and for the first time in months I felt young!
By the way, we should have a ruling in a month or so.
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