Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in Indianapolis, Indiana, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We help prepare applications, respond to initial denials through reconsideration, and represent clients at administrative hearings. We work with you by phone and video. If your health has made working difficult, start with the places that provided your care and the tasks your condition limits. Contact us to discuss your claim and the help you need.
How we help
What Downard Does for Indianapolis Disability Clients
At the hearing, we present the legal argument supporting your claim.
A disability claim involves more than naming a diagnosis. We help put the application, treatment evidence, and work history together so the Social Security Administration (SSA) can evaluate the information relevant to your claim.
At the application stage, we help file the SSDI application, gather medical evidence, and document your work history. For SSI, we also help complete the financial disclosures.
After an initial denial, we review the reasons for the decision, prepare the reconsideration request, and address gaps in the medical evidence.
Before an administrative hearing, we develop the medical record and prepare you to answer questions about your condition, work history, and daily limitations. At the hearing, we present the legal argument supporting your claim.
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.
Benefit eligibility
SSDI and SSI Eligibility for Indianapolis Adults
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough recent work covered by Social Security. The work credits you need depend on your age when disability began. SSI does not require an SSDI insured-work record. It requires limited income and resources and eligibility based on age 65 or older, statutory blindness, or a qualifying disability. Residency, citizenship or eligible immigration status, and other rules also apply.
For SSDI and adult SSI claims based on disability, a medically determinable condition generally must prevent substantial gainful activity, meaning significant physical or mental work that is done or ordinarily done for pay or profit. The condition and resulting inability to perform that work generally must last, or be expected to last, at least 12 consecutive months, unless the condition is expected to result in death within that period. SSA considers past work and the ability to adjust to other work when those steps apply; some claims are decided earlier.
You do not have to wait 12 months before applying. SSI statutory blindness follows different rules: SSA does not use substantial gainful activity to determine initial eligibility, and statutory blindness under SSI has no duration requirement. SSI financial and other eligibility rules still apply.
Read SSA's disability requirements and SSI eligibility rules. Our Indiana disability page provides the statewide overview.
Your treatment records
Finding IU Health and Eskenazi Records for an Indianapolis Claim
Methodist and University hospitals are among its listed Metro Indiana facilities.
If your care has involved both IU Health and Eskenazi Health, start with two separate lists of visits. Include the facility, treating provider, and approximate dates. Add treatment elsewhere, too. These are examples of local record sources, not a requirement to use a particular provider.
IU Health: My IU Health provides access to electronic records. Its medical-records instructions also explain how to use an authorization form and send it to the facility from which you need records. Methodist and University hospitals are among its listed Metro Indiana facilities. Identify where the care occurred rather than using only the network name.
A portal may not show every note you need. IU Health's portal help guide says clinical notes unavailable in My IU Health can be requested through Health Information Management. If a visit is missing from what you can see, record its date and provider so the missing material can be identified.
Eskenazi Health: Its medical-records page describes MyChart access and a separate online records-request tool. A patient request form is another option. Use the provider's current instructions for the route you choose; portal access and a records request are different steps.
You can organize this information without purchasing a complete file yourself. SSA's Adult Disability Starter Kit says to provide records already in your possession and the provider information SSA needs to request other records with your permission. It says you do not need to ask for or pay providers for records you do not have. Missing information is not a reason to delay applying.
Get organized
Make a Working Record for Your Indianapolis Disability Claim
Use a document or notebook with these five entries. Mark what you have, what is missing, and what has changed since you first applied.
Treatment sources: List each doctor, hospital, therapist, or testing facility, with contact information and treatment dates. Separate IU Health and Eskenazi visits and include care received elsewhere.
Tests and medications: Record test dates, who ordered them, your medications, and prescribers where applicable. Identify results already in your possession.
Recent jobs: List jobs held in the five years before you became unable to work because of your condition. Record dates, hours, pay, and the actual duties you performed.
Daily limitations: Describe the tasks affected by your condition. Include how often symptoms occur, how long they last, and any medication side effects. Use specific, accurate examples.
Outstanding items: If a records request is already underway, note the provider, dates requested, date sent, and what arrived. Update the list as new information becomes available.
Local claim process
Understanding Medical Review of an Indianapolis Application
Keep that correspondence with your treatment list so you can identify the person handling that review.
Indiana's Disability Determination Bureau works with SSA field offices and makes medical disability determinations under the federal standard. SSA handles nonmedical eligibility requirements, such as SSDI insured status and SSI income and resources. Medical review and nonmedical eligibility are separate parts of the claim.
For a claim pending with the bureau, Indiana directs you to the disability examiner named on the last page of the bureau correspondence. Keep that correspondence with your treatment list so you can identify the person handling that review. The bureau is not the administrative law judge hearing office.
After a denial
Responding to an Indianapolis SSDI or SSI Denial
Deadline
60days
After an initial SSDI or SSI denial, reconsideration is generally the next review step. After an unfavorable reconsideration determination, you may request an administrative law judge hearing. The written request for each of these stages is generally due within 60 days after you receive the applicable notice.
Under SSA's notice receipt rule, receipt is ordinarily presumed five days after the notice date unless you show that you did not receive it within that period. If a request is late, ask for an extension in writing and explain the delay. SSA must find good cause to extend the deadline. Its reconsideration rule and SSI hearing-request rule explain the request deadlines and extension rules.
Keep the decision and any later hearing correspondence together. Our hearing-office guide provides office details for people preparing for an administrative hearing.
Common questions
Indianapolis Disability Claim Questions
Do I need to buy medical records before applying?
No. SSA says you do not need to ask for or pay providers for medical records you do not already have. Provide the records you have and the names and contact details of your treatment sources. With your permission, SSA helps request medical evidence from your treatment sources. SSA also says not to delay applying because information is missing. You still need to meet the benefit requirements.
What if my IU Health portal is missing a clinical note?
IU Health says clinical notes unavailable in My IU Health can be requested through Health Information Management. Identify the visit date and provider, then use IU Health's medical-records instructions. A missing portal entry does not, by itself, establish that no record exists.
Who should I contact about a claim pending with Indiana’s Disability Determination Bureau?
Indiana directs you to the disability examiner identified on the last page of the bureau correspondence. Use that contact for the pending medical review. The bureau’s role is medical determination; SSA handles the nonmedical eligibility requirements.
Can a diagnosis alone establish disability?
A diagnosis alone does not establish eligibility under SSA’s adult disability rules. SSA evaluates the medically determinable impairment, its severity and duration, and the relevant work-related limitations. The evaluation may end before every step is reached. SSI based on statutory blindness or age 65 or older follows different eligibility rules, and SSI financial requirements still apply.
Discuss your claim
Talk With Downard About Your Indianapolis Claim
Tell us how your condition affects your work and whether you are preparing an application or responding to a decision. We can discuss representation for your SSDI or SSI claim. If you have already received a decision, have it available for the conversation.