Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in Atlanta, Georgia, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We help with applications, reconsideration appeals, and administrative hearings, working with clients by phone and video. Start with a list of your treatment providers, the jobs you have held, and any Social Security decision you have received. We can review your situation and explain how we would handle your claim.
How we help
How We Help Atlanta Adults Build a Disability Claim
If the case reaches a hearing before an administrative law judge, we develop the medical record, prepare you for testimony, and present the case.
We represent adults age 18 and older. For an SSDI application, we help prepare and file the application, gather medical evidence, and document work history. For an SSI application, we also help complete the financial disclosures. These are different programs, so the information needed is not identical.
At reconsideration, we review the reasons for denial and address missing evidence. If the case reaches a hearing before an administrative law judge, we develop the medical record, prepare you for testimony, and present the case. The work at each stage should address the issue Social Security needs to decide.
We work with Atlanta clients by phone and video. Our firm is based in Tennessee, and we do not have a Georgia office. For the broader state overview, read our Georgia disability representation page.
VA refers to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. We handle SSDI cases for people who currently receive VA benefits, but we do not handle VA claims or appeals. We do not take disability cessation or continuing disability review cases, or new cases involving back-pay issues alone. We refer federal court appeals to a trusted affiliate rather than handling them in-house.
Benefit eligibility
SSDI and SSI Eligibility for Atlanta Applicants
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally depends on an insured work record. You generally need enough work covered by Social Security, including sufficiently recent work. The work-credit requirements depend on your age when the disability began. For SSDI based on statutory blindness as Social Security defines it, you must be fully insured, but the usual recent-work test does not apply. This exception does not apply to visual impairments that do not meet SSA's statutory-blindness definition. A long work history does not automatically mean you remain insured.
SSI has separate financial and eligibility rules. It does not require an SSDI work-credit record. Adults may qualify based on disability, statutory blindness, or age 65 or older, subject to income, resource, residency, citizenship or qualifying noncitizen status, and other requirements. The Social Security Administration (SSA) explains these distinctions in its SSI eligibility guidance.
For SSDI and adult SSI claims based on disability, SSA evaluates whether a medically determinable condition prevents substantial gainful activity (SGA), its work-activity standard. When the evaluation reaches the relevant steps, SSA considers whether you can do past work or adjust to other work. Some claims are decided at an earlier step. The condition must have lasted, or be expected to last, at least 12 consecutive months or be expected to result in death. You do not have to wait 12 months before applying.
For initial SSI eligibility based on statutory blindness, SSA does not apply the SGA test, and no 12-month duration requirement applies. Income, resource, and other SSI eligibility requirements still apply. A diagnosis alone does not settle eligibility; the applicable program rules and supporting evidence matter.
Local treatment records
Connecting Grady and Emory Records to an Atlanta Claim
Select the information you need and add the visit dates.
An Atlanta claim may involve treatment at more than one hospital or clinic. Make a provider list that identifies each facility and the dates you received care. Use the following examples if you received treatment through Grady or Emory; include unrelated providers separately.
Grady: If you have a Grady MyChart account, its medical records instructions direct you to Document Center, then Requested Medical Records. Select the information you need and add the visit dates. Grady also publishes release-form instructions for other request methods.
Emory: If you received care at several Emory facilities, its medical records FAQ explains that one authorization can select multiple facilities. Identify the relevant facilities when completing the request.
Emory University Hospital stopped accepting in-person requests for copies of medical records at its Release of Information window on September 14, 2026. That change concerns this hospital location. Use another method listed in Emory’s current records instructions.
Georgia’s Disability Adjudication Services develops medical evidence and makes initial and reconsideration disability determinations for Georgia claims, while SSA field offices generally handle nonmedical and technical eligibility issues. Georgia’s application guidance asks for treatment locations, medications, education, past work, and authorization to release records. Keep that information organized so requests can identify the right providers and periods of care.
Get organized
A Records and Work Checklist for Your Atlanta Claim
Use one list for the following information. Keep any records you already have with it, and note which records still need to be requested.
Treatment providers: Record each doctor, hospital, and clinic, with contact information and approximate treatment dates. Separate Grady, each relevant Emory facility, and other providers.
Tests and medications: List test dates, who ordered the tests, current medications, and who prescribed them.
Recent jobs: Write down job titles and dates for the five years before you became unable to work. Describe the actual tasks, including lifting, standing, sitting, concentration, and interactions with others.
Changes in function: Give concrete examples of how your condition affects those tasks. Include changes in hours, duties, or attendance rather than relying only on a diagnosis name.
SSA correspondence: Save decisions and envelopes, record when you received them, and keep copies of requests and submissions.
SSA’s application instructions explain the information needed and say not to delay applying just because you do not have every document. Organizing records should support the application, rather than postpone it.
After a denial
After an Atlanta Disability Application Is Denied
Deadline
60days
For an SSDI or SSI initial denial, the reconsideration request generally must be filed within 60 days after you receive the notice. A hearing request after a reconsideration denial generally has the same receipt-based period. SSA presumes receipt five days after the notice date unless you show you received it later. Keep the notice and envelope, and check the review instructions for that decision.
If the deadline was missed, request an extension in writing and explain the reasons. SSA must find good cause; acceptance is not automatic. The SSDI reconsideration rule and SSI reconsideration rule explain the basic timing and extension requirements.
A hearing may be held in person, by audio using a telephone, by agency video using SSA equipment, or by online video using your own device. Online video requires your agreement. You may object in writing to appearing by audio, agency video, or both within 30 days after receiving SSA’s Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing. Late objections may be considered for good cause, and SSA’s rules include limited exceptions. Read the appearance forms and scheduling notice carefully; your client calls with us do not determine how SSA schedules the hearing. SSA’s hearing-options page explains the methods and forms.
Our hearing-office guide provides office information. Follow your own scheduling notice for the hearing instructions.
Common questions
Questions Atlanta Disability Applicants Ask
Do I need all my medical records before applying?
No. SSA says not to delay an application because documents are missing. Provide the treatment-provider information you have and identify records that still need to be obtained. This does not remove the need to respond to later evidence requests.
Does a diagnosis automatically qualify me for disability benefits?
No. SSA applies the eligibility rules for the program involved. For adult disability-based claims, the evidence must establish the condition and its qualifying effects on work, including the applicable duration requirement. SSI based on statutory blindness or age has different rules.
Can I work with Downard without traveling to Tennessee?
Yes. We work with Atlanta clients by phone and video. We do not have a Georgia office. SSA hearing attendance is a separate matter governed by SSA’s appearance rules and your notices.
Should I leave out treatment from a different hospital system?
No. SSA’s application instructions ask for all doctors, hospitals, and clinics relevant to your medical conditions. List the provider and treatment dates even if you also received care through Grady or Emory. A request directed to one system should not replace your full provider list.
Discuss your claim
Talk With Downard About Your Atlanta Disability Claim
Tell us how your condition has affected your work and whether you have applied or received a decision. We can review your situation and explain the work involved in representing you.