Make some phone calls to those law firms that specialize in helping people get disability. They advertise on TV and on the Internet. Call a few of them. It will cost you nothing. Believe me, you will get responses quite soon from just about any of them. The person who returns your call will most likely be a paralegal, though some lawyers will actually call you, themselves. For this you pay nothing. And you will learn a few things, without having made any commitment to any of them.

You can learn from the questions that they will ask you, what questions are important to the Social Security Administration. #1) Do you have a doctor who is supportive of you applying for SSDI/SSI? #2) Are you on medication? #3) Have you failed at jobs?

I found pretty much all of them quite nice to talk to. They are all looking for more clients and they can't charge anything, until they win your case for you. (There's some exceptions to that, but you will be informed of that before you get a bill.) If they think you have a pretty good case, they will be chomping at the bit to represent you . . . which you can accept, or decline, as you choose. If they don't think you can win, then they will indicate that they have misgivings about your chances. They are experts at knowing who is, or is not, likely to get approved. So just getting some feedback from them can tell you a lot about where you stand.

Personally, I would advise getting a lawyer on board your case before you apply. A lawyer might help you avoid making some mistakes that could be hard to correct down the line. In any case, get a book on the subject written by a lawyer. Also, wants videos on YouTube about the process. There's plenty of info out there that is very good to know.

Who gets approved the quickest isn't based on who deserves it the most. It's based on whose application shows the best preparation and best meets their criteria. You need a lawyer to explain that to you, whether by book, by video, or in person.

I got approved within a few months, partly due to the homework I did ahead of time and to the law firm getting all my medical records collected and turned in. The law firm ended up getting no fee for their services to me because my case went through so quick that there were no back benefits accrued. They were fine with that.

There are also non-attorney representatives who can help you. I approached one of those and ended up a bit turned off. I'm glad I didn't follow their advice. One piece of advice they gave, which I did follow. Tell the SSA that you do not communicate via e-mail. I would avoid submitting anything on-line. Fill stuff out by hand and mail via snail mail. Use a method at the post office that gives you some verification of when you submitted stuff. Let the law office take care of getting your doctors to submit medical records. They know what those records need to contain. They have clerks who do nothing but pester docs and hospitals till they get everything they need.

A history of job failures can work in your favor, but you need to know how to explain that in the right way. A lawyer can't actually tell you to give up any job you are currently doing, but I would strongly advise that you do not have a job of any kind at the time that you apply.

No one gets automatically denied the first time. Lots of people do get denied the first time, even though they have valid claims, because they did not understand what evidence of unemployability the SSA needs to see. Often they innocently made statements that undermined their application, out of ignorance of what the process is about.

The SSA doesn't care how sick you are. They only care about how your illness interferes with you working. It can be all a matter of how you explain yourself. That's where legal advise, in my opinion, is essential . . . even if you just get it from books.