What do disability examiners look for?

Examiners will look at your medical diagnosis and the origin of a condition. They will look into other corroborative evidence: bloodwork, imaging, physical exam, and any other special testing. What is the prognosis of this condition – in other words, where will the condition lead? They’ll also look for indications in treatment notes about the claimant’s physical/mental limitations, so that they can use these limitations to rate the claimant’s residual functional capacity.

The disability examiner will also look at the claimant’s work history, including job skills and the physical and mental demands of their past jobs. If the examiner finds that they are not able to return to a previous job, they will assess the claimant’s skills and past job requirements to consider what other jobs the claimant may be capable of performing, based on age and rated limitations.