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This means that Administrative Law Judge is willing to find you disabled in exchange for coming up with different date your disability began.

Remember, two things have to happen in a hearing.

The first is you must you win.

The second is that the Judge must decide when you became disabled.

When you apply you tell Social Security the date you became unable to work.

What the Judge is telling you if she asks you to change your disability date is that she does not believe you were disabled as soon as you claimed.

Should you agree to change the onset date?

If the onset date is after your date of last insurance, then you face a tough question.

The date of last insurance means that you must be disabled before this date or you are not eligible for Social Security Disability benefits at all.

The only program you would possibly be eligible for is SSI.

SSI limits the household income and assets you can have so it is not a very attractive alternative.

The other drawback to changing your onset date is that it will reduce your back benefits because you will not have as many months that Social Security has failed to pay you.

What I tell a client is that the most important thing is to get your benefits started.

Do not focus on back benefits.

If you are approved for Social Security Disability you will get a monthly check and eventually Medicare.

There is an old saying: Pigs get fed; hogs get slaughtered.

A shoulder injury without restrictions is most likely not enough.

In other words, pain alone is not enough.

A shoulder injury with weakness that affects lifting is necessary.

A shoulder injury with limited reaching at all levels is helpful.

A shoulder injury that affects handling and fingering is even more helpful.

Another factor is whether the injured shoulder is your dominant arm.

If you are under 50 years of age and you are limited to occasional use of the dominant arm and lifting of 10 pounds or less, then you will probably need some other illness or condition to win your Social Security Disability case.

The reason is that most vocational experts will testify that a person with these limitations can perform some type of sit down job.

If you are 50 years of age or older you have a good chance of winning your disability case.

The reason is that most vocational experts will limit you to sit down jobs because of the weight limit.

At 50 years of age Social Security rules make it easier to win even if you can perform some type of job.

If your past work was a sit down job, then you may have a problem if the job could be performed with occasional use of the dominant hand.

What about photographs or videos.

This evidence could come into play if there is a question about the accident, or what the job site looks like, or a dispute over the condition of the property.

You may need to have photographs of the work site layout, or the condition of the parking lot, or the path leading to the work site.

Sometimes videos will explain the repetitive nature of the work.

The problem is that the injured worker often does not have access to the plant or work site to make the videos and will not be given permission to enter the premises for this purpose.

The other purposes of a video or photo is to show the condition of the injury. Such as rashes, swelling or burns.

The other use of videos is to show surveillance of the injured worker.

Much surveillance is worthless.

However, videos of activities that the injured worker claims he cannot do, or are beyond his restrictions are often damaging.

Other evidence is testimony from a vocational expert and at times a medical expert’s testimony.

What about photographs of your condition, or even videos of your condition?

Some Administrative Law Judges will ignore pictures or videos, MRI films, or xrays.

The rationale is they are not doctors and cannot make a medical determination, or judgment based on this type of evidence.

Other Social Security Judges are willing to look at the the pictures or videos and give them whatever weight they deem proper.

The bottom line is that it does not seem to hurt to provide photos or videos.

The type of case it may be helpful for is something such as extreme swelling of a leg, severe rashes, burn cases.

The other advantage of photos or videos is when Social Security calls in a medical expert to testify.

This will give the expert something else to study and testify regarding your condition and limitations.

Just make sure the quality of the images are good and are easy to determine the body part and in contrast to a normal extremity.

With the technology available today this should be doable.