I'm dealing with this too. The paperwork is about 12 pages that asks about skills and how the disability is affecting you along with a packet that asks questions about previous jobs. If you find that the paperwork is too hard or stressful to fill out you can have a friend or family member help you fill it out and then there is a place at the end for them to sign it too.

Like you said I'm dealing with the denial and will be able to tell you more as I go through the process but I did find out that for the first two levels of appeals all the lawyer does is fill out the paperwork so if you can get it in the first three levels that is ideal. However, if you do have to get a lawyer I found out from somebody else who had a lawyer that they are capped at a certain percentage of your back pay sum or $5800 whichever is more and the fee has to be approved by social security. There are a lot of lawyers that also say that if they don't win your case you don't owe them any money. I hope this helps.