Chicago, Illinois
Chicago Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in Chicago, Illinois, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We help with applications, reconsideration appeals, and administrative hearings, with client communication by phone or video. If a medical condition is affecting your ability to work, start with a list of your treatment providers and the work you can no longer do. If you have already applied, keep your latest Social Security decision available for review.
How we help
Working with Downard on a Chicago disability claim
That work connects the information on your forms with the treatment and employment records supporting your claim.
We serve Chicago clients from our Tennessee base. You can communicate with us by phone or video; we do not have an Illinois office.
Applying for benefits: We help prepare the application, gather medical evidence, and document your work history. That work connects the information on your forms with the treatment and employment records supporting your claim.
After an initial denial: We review the reasons for the decision, address evidence gaps, and submit the reconsideration appeal. The focus is the reason Social Security denied your claim and the information needed for the next review.
Preparing for a hearing: We develop the medical record, prepare you to discuss your condition and daily limitations, and present the legal argument to the administrative law judge. We help you explain your experience accurately, without overstating what you cannot do.
Our service limits also address matters involving Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits.
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.
For statewide information, see our Illinois disability representation page.
Benefit eligibility
SSDI and SSI eligibility for Chicago adults
SSDI generally requires enough recent work in jobs covered by Social Security, as well as a qualifying disability. The required work credits depend on your age when the disability began. A diagnosis alone does not establish eligibility.
SSI does not require an insured work record. It has separate limits on income and resources, along with citizenship or qualifying noncitizen status, residency, and other requirements. Adults may qualify based on disability, statutory blindness, or age 65 or older.
For SSDI and adult SSI claims based on disability, the Social Security Administration (SSA) evaluates whether a medically determinable condition prevents substantial gainful activity: work involving significant physical or mental activities that is done, or usually done, for pay or profit. Its step-by-step process also considers past work and adjustment to other work when the claim reaches those stages. A decision can be made earlier; not every claim goes through every step.
For disability-based claims, both the condition and the resulting inability to perform substantial gainful activity must generally have lasted or be expected to last at least 12 consecutive months, unless the condition is expected to result in death within 12 months after the disability began. You do not have to wait 12 months before applying when the expected duration meets that rule.
SSI based on statutory blindness has no duration requirement, and SSA does not use substantial gainful activity to decide initial eligibility on that basis. Income and resource rules still apply. SSI eligibility based on age 65 or older does not require a disability finding.
SSA explains the SSDI work and disability requirements and the separate SSI eligibility rules.
Treatment records
Gathering Cook County Health and UI Health records
The page provides separate contacts for radiology and mammography images.
If your treatment includes Cook County Health, UI Health, and other providers, list each source separately with its contact information and treatment dates. Disability Determination Services (DDS) usually seeks evidence from your own medical sources first. Your list gives the agency a starting point for requesting the right records.
Cook County Health: Its medical-records instructions offer an electronic authorization through Verisma or a paper authorization submitted in person, by mail, or by fax. Both routes require a copy of government-issued photo identification. The page provides separate contacts for radiology and mammography images.
UI Health: Its medical-records request page offers online requests with electronic or mail delivery and asks you to have photo identification ready. Its MyChart records-request option covers records starting September 1, 2020. Images and pathology slides cannot be requested through that MyChart option; use the separate instructions linked on the records page if those materials are needed.
Keep the provider names, dates, and any records you already have together. SSA says not to delay applying because documents are missing. Record collection and an application can proceed together; do not wait for every personal copy before starting.
Local claim process
How Illinois DDS evaluates a Chicago claim
SSA checks nonmedical requirements, such as covered work and other eligibility information. Illinois Disability Determination Services evaluates disability claims for SSDI and SSI under Social Security rules. DDS develops medical evidence and makes the initial disability determination; SSA handles remaining eligibility and payment matters.
A provider list should include clinics and specialists as well as hospital stays. Under SSA's disability determination process, DDS may arrange a consultative examination when the existing evidence is unavailable or insufficient. Receiving an examination request is not an approval or denial. Read the request and follow its instructions.
Get organized
Build a treatment and work summary for your Chicago claim
Identify which visits were with Cook County Health, UI Health, or another provider.
Use a short working list to prepare for an application or a conversation about your claim. Keep copies of what you submit and update the list when treatment or work changes.
Treatment sources: Write down each provider's name, contact details, patient number if available, and treatment dates. Identify which visits were with Cook County Health, UI Health, or another provider.
Tests and medicines: List test names and dates, the provider who ordered them, current medicines, and prescribers where applicable. Keep reports you already have; note separately if images have been requested.
Work history: List jobs, dates, and duties during the five years before you became unable to work. Note lifting, time on your feet, sitting, concentration, and other demands relevant to your condition.
Daily limitations: Describe specific activities you struggle with, how often symptoms interrupt them, and what help or breaks you need. Use examples from your own experience, including changes over time.
Claim paperwork: Keep your application confirmation, decision letters, envelopes, and copies of appeal submissions in one place. Write down when you received each decision.
After a denial
Responding to a Chicago disability denial
Deadline
60days
After an initial SSDI or SSI denial, reconsideration is generally the next review stage. After a reconsideration denial, the next step is generally a hearing request. At either stage, a written request is generally due within 60 days after you receive the relevant decision notice.
SSA generally presumes you received the notice five days after its date, unless you show that you received it later. Keep the notice and any evidence of later delivery. Do not treat the rule as an automatic 65-day deadline for every Social Security letter.
If a reconsideration or hearing request is late, you can ask in writing for more time and explain why. SSA must find good cause to extend the deadline; an extension is not automatic. Its regulations explain SSDI reconsideration requests and SSI reconsideration requests, as well as SSDI hearing requests and SSI hearing requests.
Our hearing-office guide provides office information. Use your own scheduling notice for the instructions for your hearing.
Common questions
Chicago disability claim questions
Can I work with Downard without traveling to Tennessee?
Yes. We serve Chicago adults with SSDI and SSI matters and communicate with clients by phone or video. Those attorney-client conversations are separate from how SSA schedules a hearing.
Can I apply before I have all my medical records?
Yes. SSA says not to delay an application because you are missing documents. Give the agency your treatment-source information and any medical evidence you already have. Continue identifying missing records while the application is being developed.
Does a DDS medical approval mean payments start immediately?
Not necessarily. When DDS finds that you meet the medical standard, SSA still completes any outstanding nonmedical review and calculates benefits. A medical finding alone does not establish that every requirement for payment has been met.
Can I attend my disability hearing remotely?
SSA offers in-person, audio by telephone, agency video using SSA equipment, and online video using a personal device. Online video requires your agreement. Objections to audio or agency video follow SSA's rules and exceptions, so the options are not an unconditional choice of any format. Review the forms SSA sends you and follow your scheduling notice. SSA explains the options in its hearing attendance guidance.
What if some of my UI Health records are older than September 2020?
UI Health's MyChart records-request option starts with September 1, 2020 records. For older records, use the other request methods on its medical-records page. Images and pathology slides also require a request outside that MyChart option.
Discuss your claim
Talk with Downard about your Chicago disability claim
Tell us whether you are preparing an application, appealing an initial denial, or waiting for a hearing. Have your treatment list and any decision notice available so we can review where your claim stands.