San antonio, Texas
San Antonio Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in San Antonio, Texas, 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. Start by identifying the providers who treated you and the work your condition has made difficult. If your care involved University Health, UT Health San Antonio, or other providers, a treatment timeline can help bring those pieces together.
How we help
How we connect the evidence in a San Antonio disability claim
For SSI, we also help complete the required financial disclosures.
Your claim needs to explain your treatment, work background, and limitations. Our work depends on the administrative stage:
Applications: We help prepare and file the application, gather medical evidence, and document work history. For SSI, we also help complete the required financial disclosures.
Reconsideration: We address the reasons given for a denial and add missing or updated evidence to the appeal.
Administrative hearings: We develop the medical record, prepare you for questions about your condition and work, and present your case to the administrative law judge.
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.
You can work with our Tennessee-based team by phone or video. Our Texas disability representation page explains the statewide service.
Benefit eligibility
Which SSDI and SSI requirements apply to San Antonio adults?
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough recent work covered by Social Security. The work-credit requirements depend on your age when disability began. The Social Security Administration (SSA) also evaluates whether your condition meets its disability standard. See SSA's SSDI eligibility explanation.
SSI does not require an insured work record. Adults must have limited income and resources, meet the program's other requirements, and be age 65 or older, statutorily blind, or have a qualifying disability. SSA's SSI eligibility rules explain the distinctions.
For SSDI and adult SSI claims based on disability, SSA considers whether a medically determinable condition prevents work at the substantial gainful activity (SGA) level. When the evaluation reaches the later steps, SSA considers past work and the ability to adjust to other work. A claim can be decided before every step is reached. 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.
SSI eligibility based on age 65 or older does not require proving disability. SSA does not use SGA to determine initial SSI eligibility based on statutory blindness, and SSI statutory blindness has no duration requirement. Income, resources, and other SSI requirements still apply.
Local treatment records
University Health and UT Health San Antonio: checking your treatment records
Its MyChart portal provides significant portions of the health record.
University Health's medical-records instructions describe access to test and lab results, radiology reports, medication lists, after-visit summaries, and notes through MyChart. You can share or print the listed information for free. University Health also accepts authorization requests online or by fax, email, or mail; release of records requires a signature.
UT Health San Antonio publishes its own records-request instructions. Its MyChart portal provides significant portions of the health record. For records unavailable there, the instructions explain how to submit an authorization request.
If you received care through both providers, identify each on your treatment timeline. Compare the visits and tests you remember with the records you can access, and note what is missing. Follow the applicable provider's request instructions. Do not assume that a portal download or a request to one provider covers all of your treatment.
SSA requires you to tell it about or submit all known evidence relevant to your disability claim, and that duty continues as the claim develops. With your permission, SSA also makes reasonable efforts to obtain medical evidence. The SSDI evidence rule and SSI evidence rule describe these responsibilities.
Do not postpone applying while you collect copies. SSA says you should apply even if you do not have all the documents. Provide the treatment-source information and records you already have.
Get organized
Make a treatment-to-work timeline for your San Antonio claim
Use this checklist to prepare information for an application, an appeal, or a conversation with our team:
Identify each treatment source. Record the provider or facility name, contact details, and approximate dates of care. List University Health, UT Health San Antonio, and any other sources individually.
Put important treatment in order. Note visits, tests, hospital stays, medications, and changes in treatment. Mark which records you have and which are still missing.
Describe your job duties. Include lifting, sitting, standing, concentration, and pace. Record when you reduced hours or stopped working and what changed.
Connect limitations to actual tasks. Describe what you could not complete, the breaks or help you needed, and how often the problem occurred. Use accurate examples rather than relying only on a diagnosis.
Keep the timeline current. Add new providers, treatment, and work changes. Keep any SSA decision and a note of when you received it.
After a denial
After a San Antonio denial, identify the next review stage
Deadline
60days
An initial SSDI or SSI denial is generally followed by a reconsideration request. After a reconsideration denial, the next administrative review stage is a hearing before an administrative law judge. The decision and its reasons guide what evidence needs attention.
For these reconsideration and hearing requests, the general deadline is 60 days after receipt of the decision notice. SSA generally presumes receipt five days after the notice date unless you show that you received it later. This is not an unconditional 65-day deadline from the letter's date.
If a request is late, ask for an extension in writing and explain the delay. SSA must find good cause; acceptance is not automatic. The SSDI reconsideration rule and SSI reconsideration rule explain the receipt-based deadline and extension process.
For hearing-office information, see our hearing-office guide. Follow your own SSA correspondence for the office handling your case and the instructions for your scheduled hearing. Contacting our firm does not itself file an appeal.
Common questions
San Antonio questions about records and disability claims
Does MyChart contain my entire UT Health San Antonio record?
UT Health San Antonio says MyChart provides significant portions of the health record and gives separate instructions for records unavailable in the portal. Compare what you can access with your treatment history and use its authorization process for missing records.
Can I start a claim while a records request is pending?
Yes. SSA says not to delay applying because requested documents are missing. Identify your treatment sources and provide the information you have. Keep track of pending requests and tell SSA about relevant new evidence as your claim develops.
Can Downard help with an SSI denial about income or resources?
We help adults with SSI applications and administrative appeals, including reviewing the reason for a denial and the financial information involved. Share the decision and the income or resource information it discusses so we can review what needs attention.
Does working with Downard by video determine my hearing format?
No. Client meetings are separate from SSA hearings. SSA describes four appearance methods: in person, audio by telephone, agency video using SSA equipment, and online video using your device. Online video requires 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. Follow your scheduling notice. SSA's hearing-options guidance explains the forms and methods.
Discuss your claim
Discuss your San Antonio application or appeal with Downard
Tell us where your claim stands, what treatment you have received, and how your condition affects your work. We can discuss the application or administrative appeal and the information needed for the next step.