Motor
Weakness, poor coordination, difficulty walking or using a hand. The most visible deficit and the one examiners look for first. Measured through examination findings and therapy records over time.
Social Security Disability
Disability Benefits After a Stroke
This claim is not really about the stroke. It is about what is still there a year later, and about proving it.
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One event, and then a question that takes months to answer.
Almost every other condition on this site develops. A stroke happens in an afternoon, and what follows is a period of recovery that can run for a year or more before anybody knows where it will settle.
That shapes the whole claim. Social Security will not usually treat the immediate aftermath as the measure of lasting disability, because a great many people regain a great deal of function. So the claim ends up being about a later moment: the point at which improvement levels off and what remains is what you are going to have.
Filing too early and filing too late both cause problems, and they cause different ones. Too early and the evidence describes a person still improving. Too late and you can lose months of backdated benefit you were entitled to.
What this page covers
Ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, transient ischemic attacks where deficits persisted, and claims where the lasting problem is speech, cognition or vision rather than weakness.
- Weakness on one side The deficit people expect, and not always the disabling one.
- Speech and language Finding words, or understanding them. Both end most jobs.
- Memory and processing Slower thinking, poor attention, difficulty with sequences.
- Vision and neglect Losing half a visual field, or not noticing one side at all.
Four kinds of deficit, assessed four different ways
Stroke claims go wrong when the file describes only the first of these.
Language
Difficulty producing speech, or understanding it, or both. Documented by speech and language therapy assessment, which is the evidence most often absent from a file because therapy ended before the claim started.
Cognitive
Memory, attention, planning and processing speed. Invisible in an ordinary appointment, and the deficit most likely to make a return to work fail. Established by formal neuropsychological testing rather than by observation.
Sensory and visual
Field loss, double vision, or inattention to one side. Rules out driving and most machinery immediately, and is routinely left out of files because nobody asked about it.
When the claimant is the person who cannot explain the claim
There is a difficulty here that does not arise anywhere else on this site. In most claims the person best placed to describe the impairment is the claimant. After a stroke affecting language, that may be the one thing they cannot do.
Aphasia makes forms harder to complete, phone calls with the agency harder to manage, and a hearing much harder to give evidence at. The risk is not only inconvenience. Somebody who struggles to answer questions can be recorded as vague or inconsistent, and a file can end up describing a person who was not really heard.
What we do about it
Take the account from the family as well, in detail, and put it in writing early so that it is evidence rather than a late explanation. Obtain the speech and language assessments, which describe the difficulty in clinical terms. Prepare properly for a hearing, including telling the judge in advance what the communication difficulty is, so that it is understood as the disability rather than mistaken for the witness.
The same applies to memory
Claimants with cognitive deficits often give inconsistent dates and histories, and inconsistency is read as unreliability by people who are not thinking about the diagnosis. Documenting the cognitive deficit formally protects the rest of the claim.
Questions
Stroke disability questions
General information, not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. The only way to know where yours stands is to have someone look at it.
How long after a stroke should I apply?
Do not wait until recovery has finished to speak to somebody, because there are consequences to filing late as well as to filing early. Tell us the date of the stroke and what has happened since, and we will tell you whether to file now or whether the record needs building first. This is one of the few claims where timing is a real strategic question.
I recovered a lot. Does that end the claim?
No. Substantial recovery is common and the claim is about the remainder. People regain the ability to walk and still cannot return to work because of fatigue, word finding, slowed thinking or the loss of a hand they relied on. What matters is what is left and what it stops you doing.
My speech is fine now but I cannot think clearly.
That is a common and badly documented pattern. Cognitive deficits after stroke can outlast the obvious ones and are rarely captured in a routine appointment. Formal testing is what turns it into evidence, and arranging it is usually one of the first things we look at.
I went back to work and it did not last.
That is useful evidence rather than a problem, and there are rules that allow for an attempt at work that fails. Keep anything documenting why it ended: reduced duties, errors, a manager’s account, a second period of absence.
I had a TIA rather than a full stroke.
The label matters less than what persisted. If deficits remain, they are assessed on the same basis. If they resolved entirely, the difficulty is the requirement that a condition lasts, or is expected to last, at least twelve months.
What we charge
Our fees are set by federal statute, are contingency only, and are the lesser of 25% not to exceed the statutory maximum of $9,200.
There is nothing to pay up front and nothing to pay if the claim does not succeed. The fee comes out of past-due benefits when they are awarded, and it has to be approved.
If your condition is not one of these
The conditions we have written about are the ones we are asked about most often. They are not the only ones that qualify, and the list is not a test you have to appear on.
A disability claim is decided on what your conditions do to your ability to work, not on the name of the diagnosis. Several problems that are each manageable on their own can add up to something that is not, and that combination is frequently the strongest part of a claim.
If what you have is not on this site, that tells you nothing about your claim. Tell us what you have been diagnosed with and what it stops you doing, and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth pursuing.
Other Social Security Disability pages
The rest of this practice area, in case your situation fits one of them better.
All Social Security Disability
SSDI denials, appeals and hearings.
Initial Applications
We prepare and file the whole claim. Most clients start here.
SSDI vs SSI
Two different programs, two different sets of rules.
Disability Appeals
What to do when the claim comes back denied.
Disability Hearings
The hearing in front of the judge, and how we prepare you for it.
SSI Children's Cases
Benefits for a child whose disability affects how they function.
SSD Widow's Benefits
Drawing on a late spouse's record, from 60, or from 50 if disabled.
Back Injuries & Spine Conditions
Qualifying with a spine condition, where function decides it.
Neck Injuries & Conditions
Cervical claims turn on the hands and arms, not the back.
Cancer
Some diagnoses qualify outright. Others turn on what treatment left behind.
COPD & Respiratory Conditions
Breathing test values, and the day the test was taken.
Depression & Anxiety Disorders
Assessed on functioning across a working week, not on a diagnosis.
PTSD
Reactivity and avoidance, and why the workplace itself is the barrier.
Multiple Sclerosis
A fluctuating illness, assessed on a single day. Closing that gap.
Heart Disease
Measured exertion, and the difference between stable and employable.
Bipolar Disorder
The cycle decides it. Well periods are read as capacity.
Arthritis
Which joints. Ones you stand on and ones you work with.
Amputations
The prosthesis, not the amputation, is what gets argued about.
The three areas we handle
One incident can open more than one claim, and they are handled together here.
Client Reviews
What our clients say
We cannot thank Casper and Casper enough for sticking with us through 4 years of back and forth to help our son (who has autism) receive his SSI benefits. From beginning to end we were treated with kindness. They were very thorough and made sure we understood the process and what we would face along the way. The relief we have received is immense.
joanna powers
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Casper x3 were a lifesaver. I chose them because they practice in our region and understand what exactly I needed. I did not want someone from out of town. Their team from top to bottom helped me in my SSDI case. I tried it first on my own and was denied. Having decades of SSDI and court experience, Robin Partin helped me from step to step to go thru the process and had my back 100% in the hearing.
Daniel Ethridge
Google Review
Steve Casper was VERY professional. Very compassionate. He explained things in an easy to understand way. He took my case after a previous firm dropped me in a very hurtful unprofessional way. He got my disabilty case approved from the very beginning. Steve is worth EVERY penny. I now will have my monthly payments to survive with my conditions and back pay to boot.
Jen Jen
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Steve Casper and Ben were amazing! They literally did all the work for me and I only had to fill out a few forms. I won my case and absolutely could not have done this without them! They are very professional and kind. I was very nervous about this whole process but their words of encouragement helped me a lot!
dragonmastergirl
Google Review
I highly recommend for anyone dealing with the disability process to contact Casper, Casper & Casper. Steve Casper along with Ben Hite were VERY helpful in the entire process. If I a had any questions or concerns; they had the answers and reassured me everything would be okay. They worked diligently on my case for months and I was FINALLY approved. This team of attorneys WILL help fight for you as they have for me.
Kimberly Moore
Google Review
I had been denied two times for social security after life changing damages to my back, ankle and knee, had paid into social security all my life and I'm 60 years old now. Steven Casper was compassionate and thorough and walked me through the process without any money to pay him he was able to get my social security approved and every dime of back pay for those two years I had waited and has assured me that if anything comes up he's there for me.
Maggie Still
Google Review
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