In order to qualify for Social Security disability, a claimant must establish an inability to engage in substantial gainful activity of any kind. Essentially, this means you must be unable to work at all. To determine if this is true, the Social Security Administration will first decide if you can return to your former job. If not, then it will see if you are able to perform any other jobs. To reach this decision, the administration evaluates your residual functional capacity. To determine your residual functional capacity, the Administration will look at your age, education and work experience. If, after making this evaluation, it is determined there are no jobs which you can perform, you will be awarded benefits.
To apply for benefits, you can go to your local Social Security office. You will be asked to fill out forms and they will get medical information from your doctors. Most applicants are not represented by attorneys at that point. If you are denied benefits at this stage, you can then file a request for reconsideration. This request must be filed within 60 days of the date of the denial of benefits. Once again this is essentially a matter of filling out forms at your local Social Security office and representation by an attorney is not necessary.