Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) can be a time-consuming and stressful experience. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. A tough economy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease challenged George Slater’s financial future. Read how Allsup gave this Army veteran a helping hand.

 

 

 

Vincennes, Indiana— Economic opportunities in Southern Indiana were slim when George Slater graduated high school in the late 1960s.

 

Things weren’t any better when he returned from Vietnam in 1971. The Army veteran eventually found work as a maintenance specialist with the local housing authority, but there was little opportunity for advancement.

 

Good with his hands and ready for a change, Mr. Slater moved to Florida in 1985, hoping to capitalize on the construction boom sweeping through the Sunshine State.

 

Mr. Slater walked into the local employment office and left a while later with a new career track as an electrician. He received on-the-job training while working alongside a professional electrician. Two years later, Mr. Slater secured his license as a journeyman electrician.

 

During the next decade, Mr. Slater worked mostly on his own, subcontracting jobs throughout the St. Petersburg and Tampa area. He spent his days wiring new homes. It was tough, physical labor compounded by heat and humidity.

 

But Mr. Slater enjoyed the work and his new surroundings. He bought a house and settled into life along the Gulf of Mexico.

 

By 2000, the demanding nature of his work was taking a toll. Arthritis made it increasingly difficult to climb into crawl spaces and navigate ladders. He moved back to Indiana and bought a house, hoping to find work as an electrician.

 

Decades after he left, work in the region was still tough to come by. A year after returning home, Mr. Slater began working as a caretaker for people with disabilities. He took clients on community excursions and helped them cook and clean.

 

The work was both challenging and rewarding, but health problems started to add new layers of difficulty.

 

Mr. Slater’s arthritis worsened, making it difficult to walk or even stay on his feet for extended periods. Debilitating migraines followed, including one so painful he missed a week of work.

 

Then, during a routine checkup in 2004, an X-ray uncovered a spot on his right lung. Surgeons removed the lung’s upper lobe but didn’t find a hint of cancer. Mr. Slater, a smoker, was diagnosed with emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, a group of lung diseases that block airflow and stifle breathing. The disease is typically caused by long-term smoking.

 

Constant breathing problems forced him to scale back at work. Soon he could no longer take his clients to baseball games, the bowling alley and other outings. Depressed and riddled with anxiety, it was a struggle to leave the house.

 

He quit his job in October 2009, planning to take a year off and look for less strenuous work. Without a college degree or relevant experience, Mr. Slater realized the only jobs available would require a level of physical labor he could no longer summon. He knew his working days were over.

 

Friends suggested he apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), a federal insurance program that provides monthly benefits to people under full retirement age (65 or older) and those who can no longer work because of a disability.

 

Mr. Slater filed a claim with the Social Security Administration. The agency rejected his initial application and his subsequent disability appeal with little explanation. Not long after, a cousin who had learned of Mr. Slater’s predicament suggested he contact Allsup, the nation’s premier SSDI representation company. He had turned to the Illinois-based company years earlier to help secure his own SSDI benefits.

 

Founded in 1984, Allsup has helped more than 170,000 people across the country receive the Social Security disability benefits they paid for during their working lives. Mr. Slater contacted Allsup and the company took his case in January 2010.

 

Mr. Slater’s Allsup representative gathered medical documents and other pertinent information to build a substantial case. With his initial disability appeal exhausted, Mr. Slater’s next step would be a hearing before an administrative law judge. Mr. Slater, who also suffers from a social anxiety disorder, was terrified by the possibility of appearing in-person at a hearing.

 

Knowing that, his Allsup representatives redoubled their efforts, hoping to convince the judge to award Mr. Slater’s benefits based solely on his case file in what’s known as an on-the-record decision. Allsup experts pulled together an exhaustive file and sent it to the judge.

 

In early 2011, Mr. Slater received a double dose of great news: There was no need for a hearing because the judge awarded his benefits on the record.

 

“It was just a lifesaver when I got that letter,” Mr. Slater said. “It was as a big burden off my mind. Allsup made it easy.”