Are You Making This Mistake With Your CPP Disability Appeal?

Are You Making This Mistake With Your CPP Disability Appeal?

Has your CPP disability claim been denied? Are you planning on doing your own CPP disability appeal? Do you want to learn the secrets for maximizing your chances of winning?

As a disability lawyer who works on CPP disability appeals for many people, I have the opportunity to see lots of examples of what works and doesn’t work…when it comes to winning an appeal.

While each CPP disability appeal is unique, there is without-a-doubt a common mistake I see with every winnable CPP claim that has been denied. I know these cases were winnable because I have been able to win after my clients had already had one or two denials from Service Canada.

So what is this big mistake you must avoid?

Using a “Bare Minimum” Approach for Your CPP Disability Appeal

The biggest mistake you can make is taking a bare minimum approach to your initial application and appeals.

By “bare minimum”, I mean you are limiting yourself to doing only those things that are required to have a complete application or appeal. For example, in terms of the application for CPP disability benefits, it means you only submit the required forms and little else. For a CPP disability appeal, it means you simply write a short letter asking for a reconsideration, and at best, ask your doctor to write another report.

It is possible for some people to win using the bare minimum approach. For example, in situations where the disability is caused by a very clear and visible source (e.g., Cancer, amputation, paraplegia, loss of vision, etc).

However, if your disability is caused by a chronic medical condition (e.g., chronic pain, arthritis, mental illness, chronic fatigue, epilepsy, Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease, etc), then the bare minimum approach has a very low chance of success for you.

Why?

Three Reasons Why the Bare Minimum Approach to CPP Disability Claims Does Not Work

1. Your symptoms and disability are invisible



First, the disability arising from most chronic conditions is invisible. It is easy to see and understand your disability if your have lost a leg, but if your disability is due to chronic pain or fatigue, it is invisible to to other people.

Invisible symptoms and disability are harder to prove, and therefore it is hard to get people to accept they exist.

2. The same medical condition can result in a spectrum of disability severity

Second, most chronic medical conditions result in a spectrum of disability: from very little disability at one end of the spectrum, to high levels of disability at the other end. You need to prove where you fit on that spectrum of disability. This is why a medical diagnosis is not the key to winning CPP disability benefits…and this is where many people go wrong.

For example, simply having a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia is not enough to win payment of CPP disability. Fibromyalgia results in a spectrum of disability that is different from person to person. Many people with Fibromyalgia have low levels of disability and can work. To win CPP disability for Fibromyalgia, you must show that you fall in the severe end of the spectrum in terms of disability arising from Fibromyalgia. This is not easy to do if you limit yourself to the bare minimum approach to your application and appeals.

3. Your Credibility is Critical



Third, if your disability arises from a chronic condition, then your credibility is critical. For example, symptoms of chronic pain or fatigue can’t be measured with a x-ray or other medical tests. There is no way to independently verify how much pain you are in, or how fatigued you are.

Many people have prejudices and biases (conscious or subconscious) against people who claim disability related to chronic illness. This all means that you have to do everything possible to improve or bolster your credibility in the eyes of the CPP disability appeals reviewer and/or tribunal judge.

If you stick to the bare minimum approach, there are few opportunities to bolster your believability and credibility.

A comprehensive approach is the key to winning your CPP disability appeal

So if you used the bare minimum approach with your initial application (and got a denial), then it is critical that you now take a comprehensive approach with your appeals. Using a comprehensive approach is how some disability lawyers (including myself) are able to win disability appeals that have already been denied one or two times.

I have written a free guide that sets out the exact approach I use to win CPP disability appeals for my clients. I have called it the CPP Disability Benefits Claim Approval Blueprint. I call it a “blueprint” because it has the exact process (or blueprint) that I use on all CPP disability appeals for my own clients.

I didn’t invent all of the strategies and tactics in the Guide, rather I have learned most of these approaches from top disability lawyers in Canada and the United States. I’ve tested them out and refined them for CPP disability appeals.

Lets look at one of the key tactics from the Guide.

The Key Tactics for Winning Your CPP Disability Claim

1. Develop a Persuasive Story for Your CPP Disability Appeal

Top trial lawyers know that storytelling is the most effective way to persuade and convince others of your point of view. When information is presented as a story, it is more interesting and easy to understand.



When preparing your CPP disability appeal, your focus must be on developing a persuasive story that both enhances your credibility and proves you are disability from work.

To be persuasive, your story must be authentic and fit with all the facts about your situation (both good and bad facts). Your story must address key issues like why you had to stop work when you did. Why could you work the day before you stopped working, but not work on the day you stopped?

Your story must address the issue for why you can’t work, even though many other people with your medical condition can do so. Most importantly, your story must show how you have struggled to remain in the workforce, but have finally reached the breaking point.

Once you develop a story for your case, you then go about gathering all the evidence and medical opinions to support your story.

Persuasive storytelling is just one of the secret strategies that I discuss in the CPP Disability Benefits Claim Approval Blueprint. Others include:

• How to supplement the claim forms with information that will help you win

• Getting written statements from key witnesses

• Giving guidance to doctors on how to write better medical reports

• Getting your own medical testing, assessments and reports

• Writing an appeal brief for the appeal adjudicator or tribunal judge

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Brannen
David Brannen is a former occupational therapist turned disability claim lawyer. He is the author of A Beginner's Guide to Disability Insurance Claims in Canada. He started Resolute Legal to help deserving people win long-term disability payments from insurance companies and the CPP Disability Program, even after a denial or unsuccessful appeal.

https://resolutelegal.ca/big-mistake-cpp-disability-appeal/