I did not use a lawyer and I was approved in I think 11 weeks, something like that. But I am an occupational therapist and so the paperwork was not different than what I had spent my adult life filling out. You have to do the paperwork with the mindset that you are emphasizing what you cannot do, not talking about what you can do, and what you talk about what you can do you need to clarify what makes it very difficult and what adaptations you need to do it.

My thoughts going in was no lawyer for the first part and if I had to appeal I'd find one. I honestly don't know if I would recommend either way; as I said I spent many years filling out similar government paperwork.

To do it alone you need a certain degree of organization. I was very sick when I applied and had to work very hard at that but I listed every dr I had seen as far back as it let me go, pretty much no matter why I'd seen them (I think I left out one family dr who treated me for 2 sinus infections), my time with vocational rehab, every hospitalization, every single detail they asked for I gave as much detail as I could so that they had massive amounts of paperwork.

They sent the paperwork to my therapist and he was the only dr. to fill anything out as far as I know. His paperwork went in and a week or 2 later I was approved. The same went for my review this summer.

I also did a massive amount of research before and while filing. I learned every trick I could find. I like doing that kind of thing; if you don't I'd recommend an attorney.