Vocational Expert

Vocational experts are professionals who are retained by the Social Security Administration to provide advice to the adjudicators who review Social Security Disability claims and to testify at Social Security Disability hearings. These individuals act as rehabilitation specialists and provide the SSA with guidance regarding a claimant's ability to perform any type of work activity.

When submitting a claim for Social Security Disability benefits, you must prove to the Social Security Administration that you are completely unable to work. A disabling diagnosis in and of itself will not be enough to qualify you for Social Security Disability benefits. A vocational expert can play a large role in proving (or disproving) your disability case to the Social Security Administration.

A vocational expert provides the Social Security Administration with advice from the beginning stage of an applicant's disability claim all the way through to the hearing stage of the appeal process. If your initial application for disability benefits has been denied by the Social Security Administration, you will likely need to appear before an Administrative Law Judge at a disability hearing before receiving the disability benefits you may be entitled to. At this hearing, a vocational expert will testify about the types of jobs that are available to you and how your condition and common workplace limitations will impact your ability to obtain and perform such jobs.

When a vocational expert testifies at your disability hearing, there are two questions that the judge who is hearing your case will want answers to. First and foremost, he or she will want the vocational expert to testify as to whether or not you can perform any of the jobs that you have held over the past 15 years. Second, the judge will want testimony as to whether or not you can perform any other job in the national economy. The answers to these questions will be crucial to the outcome of your disability case.

If the vocational expert testifies that you cannot perform any of the work that you have performed in the past 15 years and that you cannot perform any other type of work in the national economy, chances are that your Social Security Disability benefits will be granted. If, however, the vocational expert states that you could be reasonably expected to perform some type of work activity, the judge overseeing your disability case will be likely to deny your Social Security Disability benefits.