Don’t give up hope yet. You can appeal the decision of the Social Security Administration. It is very important that you appeal the decision within 60 days. If you fail to do so you will have to refile a new application and you may lose valuable past benefits.
With SSD you can receive benefits up to a year before the date of your application if your disability began at least a year before you applied. With SSI you cannot receive any benefits before the date of your application even if you were disabled for a period of time before you applied for SSI. However, there is no waiting period to receive SSI benefits once you are approved. With SSD you cannot receive benefits for the first five months of your disability period. So if you apply for SSD and you have been disabled for at least a year it is to your advantage to put the date of your disability one year prior to the date of your application.
Once you appeal the decision then you will have the opportunity for a hearing in front of an administrative law judge. There used to be a step called reconsideration in New York before you had your hearing, but the Social Security Administration eliminated that step for a trial period. Now the agency may be bringing reconsideration back to New York. This is an extra step in which the agency reviews your case to see if you should receive social security disability before you actually go through with a hearing.
If you need help call a Buffalo Social Security attorney at 716-831-1111.