Anyone who works and pays taxes contributes to the country’s Social Security system. Part of that money goes toward covering disability claims.

According to attorney Marilyn Harp, the Social Security Administration has a straight definition of who is disabled.

A person must be unable to do “substantial work” for a year or have an ailment that results in death. And they must have a “verifiable” medical condition to go with it.

“It’s a medical process, so even though someone says I can’t work any more or I got fired from my last job because I couldn’t do it – that isn’t nearly enough paperwork,” Harp said. “It is a difficult and time-consuming process.”

Harp is executive director of Kansas Legal Services, a nonprofit organization that helps those receiving general assistance through the Social Security disability process.

Social Security disability comes in monthly payments, which is based on the lifetime worth of a person’s earnings.

SSA has a list of medical conditions that automatically qualify someone as disabled. For instance, people are considered legally blind and eligible for disability if their vision in their good eye is at 20/200 and that includes the use of glasses.

If the medical condition is not on the list, then the administration has to decide if it is of “equal severity” to the ones that are.

Under contract with SSA, the state of Kansas makes the first ruling on the disability.

If denied, applicants have 60 days to appeal the decision. The request must be made in writing.

The case is reconsidered by someone who wasn’t involved in the first decision, according to the SSA Web site.

If the case is denied again, it can be appealed to an administrative law judge and set for a hearing. It’s the wait for a hearing that, in Kansas, can take more than a year and a half.

Harp said the majority of people need to go on to the second and third level before getting approved.

“Both the first and second levels are really paper reviews of what the doctors are saying, what the medical tests are saying, and it really isn’t until the third round of appeals before someone is face to face with the person that is disabled,” Harp said.

Hearings involve a judge, the person applying for disability, that person’s lawyer or representative, and a court reporter.

Medical and vocational experts also can testify at the hearing. According to Chief Administrative Law Judge Frank Cristaudo, the experts are retained by SSA, but they are neutral witnesses from the community.

The hearings usually last 45 minutes to an hour. At the end, the judge can announce the decision or issue a verdict later if additional evidence is needed.

If the case is denied a third time, it can be appealed to the Social Security Appeals Council, which can either rule on the case or return it to an administrative law judge.

The final option is to file a lawsuit in federal district court.