I talk with Jonathan Ginsberg, an attorney in the Atlanta, Georgia area that handles Social Security Disability cases around the United States. He has 27 years experience handling these type of cases and a YouTube channel with 350+ videos covering all sorts of topics related to applying for Social Security Disability. Please check out his websites and podcast linked below:
https://www.youtube.com/user/ginsbergssd
Jayson:
Jonathan, welcome to the show. It's great to have an attorney on to really talk about this complicated case of disability that many of us with axial spondyloarthritis might encounter at some point. Could you tell me a little bit about your practice and how you long you've been doing Disability Law?
Jonathan:
Yes, Jayson, I appreciate you the time. Thank you for having me. I'm a disability attorney, social security disability attorney. I'm in Atlanta, Georgia, although my practices national, I've been doing social securuty work for probably 26 or 27 years now, I've been in practice for a little over 30 years. So I've been doing this for, you know, majority my practice. I practice again in Atlanta, with a small law firm called Ginsberg Law Offices. My wife and myself are the owners of it. My wife does workers comp, a little bit of social security and I've got a daughter who's a clinical ethicist, a bioethicist, and a part time attorney with us. We also have another attorney that does some bankruptcy work, my day to day is pretty much all social security disability.
Jayson:
Where I really caught wind of what you're doing is your YouTube channel. And it was highly unusual to see such a wealth of information, you have over 350 plus videos, I think it is on all sorts of disability topics on your YouTube channel.
Jonathan:
I do and I appreciate that. Yes, the YouTube channel kind of grew organically a number of years ago. I wrote a book, I had a client that was basically talking to me about all the forms Social Security makes a disability applicant complete, and that there's really not much in the way of instructions and the forms keep getting more complicated and longer and how am I supposed to fill them out. So it kind of, you know, germinated in an idea that, you know, I need to maybe do something about this, I wrote a how to book, which is still actually available at disabilityforms.com, but from that, I started getting calls from people really all over the country. You know, I need a lawyer; I got a question, things like that. So I started recording videos, I'm sort of a photography type of person did this in high school, and so forth. I started recording videos had no idea what I was doing. The first videos are just awful, technically, but over time, I get a little bit better with it. And it sort of became just kind of a thing I just have been doing. And it's a lot of fun. For me, I think I'm giving back a little bit. I think as an attorney, unfortunately, the law can be in many ways, sort of a black box to a lot of folks, there's not a lot of explanation in cybersecurity in particular, there's not a lot of good information about there about how the process works. So I thought, you know, let me just put it out there. Obviously, someone is going to see that and gain from it. And that's good karma. For me, obviously, there's some of those folks do call me for, you know, for consultations or to hire me. But I think the main thing is just to get information out there. So people understand how this very confusing process works. Because quite frankly, when I started doing it before I started, I had no idea what it was. And it really didn't make a lot of sense to me until really a couple years in my practice where I started to really understand the main issues in a disability case. So hopefully the videos will have also got a podcast will help shortcut that, that learning process for a lot of folks.
Jayson:
And for the listeners, I'll have links to not only Jonathan's website, but the YouTube, his YouTube channel as well as as podcast so that you can delve in and look at all the different things that are offered. But let's kind of take a step back if you can, and the person comes along and and I've had to make this decision to go on disability or at least attempt to go on disability. It's a very, not only challenging, because, you know, in many cases we we value ourselves based upon the work that we do. But once I decided I think it's time to go on disability. Do you like to be called before a person even applies? Or do you like to be called after they've been denied maybe one time or what tends to be the way you like to work the process?
Jonathan:
Yeah, I mean, I'm sort of neutral about that me for a long time, I would tell people wait till you get denied. Realize that about a third of the cases when people apply, but a third of the time, they're going to be approved. So the associate does approve, again, about a third of applicant applications. And then many times I'll get hired after that I work on a contingency there's there's no fee unless you win. But obviously if you can get approved early, why pay an attorney, but more recently, I'm taking cases earlier on in the process because again, it's just a very opaque process. And I'll just give an example of one reason why I think that it's sometimes can help to get approved to get an attorney early. You know, when when you apply they ask you for the names of all your medical providers or hospitals and doctors. Well, one of the things I've learned over the years is that when you provide information about your doctors, you need to contact the doctor, get the mailing address for medical records, as opposed to the place you actually get treated at because if you don't do it that way if you just give them into place you are treated at the request for medical information. That's such critical as it could get lost in the shuffle. But if you give them the address for medical records, it won't. So I've had people get approved early, simply because we gave the adjudicator the decision maker the right address for medical records. Again, that's not something anybody would necessarily know. But I've learned over the years. So you know, sometimes I'll get involved early. So I can make sure the medical records get requested properly or if the person meets a listing, or a grid rule, which are a couple of theories of disability, I can point that out early on, we can get them approved early. So I'm kind of neutral. You know, sometimes people they don't even know what to do, they don't know how to do the application, and they’ll call me and we'll go ahead and do it, I have a paralegal, a very talented paralegal, we'll go ahead and get the application file on a person, if we get them approved, generally, there's not much attorneys fees, because there's a not a lot of past due benefits. That's how I get paid and as a five-month waiting period, so you know, I may get a couple hundred dollars, but the person may get approved early. So again, that's all all for the good. So I would say that, you know, many people, I tell him what you want to go ahead and apply no harm in doing that. But if you can get denied, you know, call an attorney like me. But if you don't feel comfortable filling out the application, you want to go ahead and make sure it's done. You know, it's a little a little more care, just because we've done a lot of them, call me early.
Jayson:
So roughly two thirds of the people are going to be denied. But it sounds like some of that could be simply because as you said, wrong address, your doctor didn't respond back maybe in a timely manner. Because of a wrong address there, it sounds like there could be procedural things as well as actual medical, you know, issues.
Jonathan:
Absolutely, absolutely, procedural and outside another reason why people get denied early. Social Security defines disability in terms of how your medical problem impacts your capacity for work. But there's also a duration requirement, meaning that you have to show that your medical condition has lasted or is expected to last 12 consecutive months or result in death. Well, if somebody stops working, and they apply, they haven't been out for 12 months. But the definition says, you know, is it has lasted or is expected to last 12 consecutive months. So sometimes it's as simple as giving a statement from the doctor, that this person's impairment is likely to at this level at a disabling level is likely to last 12 consecutive months. That's all the adjudicator would need. But again, if you don't, if you don't know that, and you don't know how to get that in there, or if you don't know the listing, or the grid rule or the, you know, the theory of disability to tell them what they want to speak their language, you won't get approved. So yes, there's a procedural element to it, there's kind of this mystery element to it where security because it's such a large agency has made things very, very, you know, bureaucratic. And if you don't know how to speak their language, more likely than not, you're going to get denied because the adjudicators or claims adjusters have very limited authority to make decisions. If it doesn't fall specifically in that, in that pigeonhole, as it were, they're gonna turn you down, even if you are clearly deserving.
Jayson:
Very interesting. So, yeah, there's really a minefield to navigate through, which is where your longevity of doing this your, your background, your just repetitively doing this is really going to come into play and possibly help somebody.
Jonathan:
I hope so I think that, again, you know, people ask about, you know, what is an attorney do and again, we get paid, just, you know, it's not a secret, we’re paid 25% of past due benefits with a cap of $6,000. And somebody says, ‘Well, you know, why should I give up, you know, 25% or $6,000 of my past due benefits to an attorney, when I can do this myself?’, and I absolutely, do it yourself. Problem is that it's, it's one of these things where there's really no great guidance as to how to do it. And the last thing, and with all due respect to anybody who's doing it themselves, the last thing one would want to do is go to a hearing in front of a judge, you've been waiting a year and a half, two years for a hearing, you have 45 minutes and not to know what to do, because the judges aren't going to take the time, they don't have they don't have the time to walk somebody through it. So again, I think that what an attorney does, it's just really a lot of most of the work we do is before the hearing, and during the process just to make sure that all rules and procedures are followed. And that's, that's a big part of what we do.
Jayson:
Mine was unique and I can tell anybody that is listening that hasn't applied yet. It's really well it might not seem hard filling out the applications and stuff. And that's really, the difficult part is when you submit it, it kind of goes into this black box of Hurry up and wait. And you do get some feedback from Social Security, but it's very little and very far between and I think that's really hard. I did it, I was very lucky to be part of that 30% that was approved on the first go around because of bilateral hip replacements and ongoing issues with AS, but I can certainly see how you put that in there and and there's so little feedback you get from Social Security that you're really just sitting on. Did I do it? Right? Is it in there? You know, what it would be a very harrowing situation.
Jonathan:
Yeah, I mean, I think that, again, indicators who the claims adjusters that work for the state, and again, this is one of these sort of strange quirks of Social Security laws, when you file an application, Social Security contract with your state, an office in your state, it could be, you know, Department of Human Resources or Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, literally, there's, you know, in every state, there's a different name for it, sometimes I call it, the DDS and sometimes the DEA is something that all these different names, and it's basically the state you live in, will do the evaluation. And these adjudicators are given very strict guidelines as to what they're allowed to do. And again, if you don't speak their language, if you don't know how to tell them what's going on, you know, they just don't have time to do it and they're not obligated to explain it to you, they just don't have time. And if it's not done, right, they just say denied, push it down down to the next person. And then you get denied, you don't know why and there's the thing is, when they give you an explanation, they'll send you a form letter, which basically says, we see that you're claiming disability based on x, y, and z, but we've made the determination that you still have the capacity for work, these are the records we looked at and that's all they tell you. So there's really nobody to talk to, they make it difficult to talk to these folks because again, they're not really set up to negotiate with people or discuss it with people. And you know, they use an in house doctor that works with Social Security, typically retired physician, so that whole process is just very, sort of behind the curtains and nobody really knows what or why they're doing what they're doing. And then all you know, is you get a notice that you've been denied, and you've got to appeal it. In fact, that's one of the things is kind of a pet peeve of mine, people get denied and take it very personally. Because they're like, how can this person say I'm able to work when I know I can't, and they get denied and they they don't appeal, you only have 60 days to appeal. So you know, two months sounds like a lot of time, but, you know, if you're gonna get an attorney, you got to take the time to do that. People don't appeal, and then they reapply and then they I've seen people that applied and reapplied five or six times and they may be giving up past due benefits by doing that, because when you reapply Social Security may not look at the time period from the prior application. So again, it's just a very, unfortunately, an unnecessarily, in my view, a very confusing process. But you know, this is unfortunately, what the law is, in general. I mean, I've done bankruptcy work over the years, same thing; it's just a very confusing process and they just don't make it easy and Social Security is especially opaque because it's this large bureaucracy, and they just don't have time to deal with individuals, they're looking at these claims, sort of as numbers. And all you can do is to work within their system.
Jayson:
I want to make sure to the listeners, we're talking with Jonathan Ginsberg, and this is really applicable to the United States. Canada, UK, anywhere else, you're going to have a different system, and I apologize, this might not be applicable to you. But with that some of these items might be beneficial and as we look at recording this right now, in November of 2020, we have this issue we're dealing with, which is COVID and the lockdowns and the slowdown of the court systems, what or how has that affected disability claims? And how has that helped or hindered your ability to work around the nation for people?
Jonathan:
Well, actually, it's kind of interesting, because Social Security, I'll give them credit, because they've done a good job with this, they've moved to a virtual setup where basically all the adjudicators, the claims adjusters, as well as the judges are working from home, hearing this, which used to be done in person or now being done over the phone, and shortly to be done by video from your home. So I'm literally doing hearings, in my home office, and I get a phone call from the judge or from the judges hearing assistant. They get me on the call, they get the claimant on the call, the vocational expert and we do these hearings by phone. So for me, I can do hearings, really any place. I've done hearings just last week, you know, Judge out of Chicago, I had one you know, recently judge out of California, Alabama just doesn't really matter. Social Security is actually the backlog for hearings, which was a real problem and has been along a problem for a long time. That would sometimes get to be, you know, a year and a half, two years has really improved. So I think Social Security has done a good job at allocating the judges, so that we're giving cases to hearings a little bit faster. The backlog has been not so so good at the initial and the reconsideration, the first appeal stage where the adjudicators are having to work from home, they have a lot of security concerns because information they're dealing with is, you know, private medical information. So we're finding that the initial and the first appeal are taking longer than they used to it used to be, you know, 2,3,4 months now. It's 5-6 months, where the hearing delays are getting shorter. So still, the timeframe is about a year and a half to two years in general. But so scritti has done a good job pivoting away from the live hearings in the live staff office environment to more of a virtual environment. And so that's been a good thing. Again, it's made a lot easier for me, I don't have to travel to go to hearings, I can do them virtually. So that's been actually a good thing. You know, one of the things that people do have trouble with is going to the doctor, because many doctors have limited office hours, or they're doing telemedicine in some conditions, you need to actually see a person and physically have contact with that person. So I think it's hurt that a little bit, I will say, just in general, and this is just my experience that many judges seem to be more understanding of how difficult it is for someone with a medical problem to find work, because remember, social securities about work capacity, so I'm seeing an uptick, at least in my office and approvals on cases that are literally marginal case that might have been turned down a year ago, year and a half ago, is now being approved. Because I think the judges recognize that it's really difficult for even a healthy young, healthy person to get work much less a person with AS, or some other significant medical problem to find work. So I'm finding that judges are a little more open to listening to why since medical problems would prevent work. So again, summary is the timeframe has probably gotten a little bit better than it was maybe by you know, three, four or five months, I think the judges are being a little more open to listening to what's going on. And you know, again, for me personally, it's been actually very helpful to have the virtual hearings, because it eliminates the travel, time and cost. So over all my practice really hasn't missed a beat.
Jayson:
Which is great. Which means you could theoretically on Monday represent somebody in Florida, Tuesday in Virginia, and Wednesday in Wyoming and absolutely not miss a beat because you don't have to be on a plane travel and all those different places.
Jonathan:
Correct, I think Social Security has done well, and again, give credit where credit's due, is that years ago, they moved from physical files to all electronic files. So when I look at a file, I can have electronic access to my client’s files, not anybody else's. So I can prepare my cases, you know, using the electronic filing system, so I can look at all the medical records all the things in the Social Security file. So really, it's very much a virtual practice. Now, I hope that continues. Because I think it's better for everybody, you know, the delays have gotten better, and and all that. But right now I'm literally doing exactly what you said, I'll have a case in Florida one day, you know, Chicago The next day, California, Oklahoma, Texas, it really doesn't matter. You know, Arizona, I've had them. So yeah, I can be I can really be in any place at any any time just as long as there's no conflict. And they're pretty good about working that out. So yeah, it's been actually very helpful to me and made me a lot more efficient.
Jayson:
Let's look at a couple of myths that I see bantered around about applying in that, you know, Number One, if you're under 50, you're just not going to get approved.
Jonathan:
Yeah, I think that that is a myth and part of that is because one of the theories of disability is something called the grid rules are the medical vocational guidelines, which only apply to people over 50, I would say as a practical matter, you know, the younger you are, the stronger the evidence has to be. So a 25 year old is going to have a much more difficult time convincing the judge that they are disabled than a person who's 53. And part of that is because judges are under a lot of pressure to not, you know, empty out the Security Trust Fund. And there's also a big narrative in Congress where a lot of people in Congress feel so security judges are too lenient, and they're trying to, and they want to really cut back on the approvals. And so my general feeling is that if you're 45-47, plus, you know, the standard is going to be pretty, pretty solid. As long as you've got good medical, you've got a pretty good shot at it. If you're 25,30,35, it's going to be more difficult, not impossible, but more difficult. And I'm going to need stronger evidence, more support from your doctor, maybe some non-medical evidence as well. In generally those cases, I'm looking at medical problems that are at a really, really severe level, but it's not true at all you can be I've had clients that are 22 and 23. I've got improved, but again, they've got to have a really, really solid medical record.
Jayson:
Okay, and what about, Number Two, Well, I'll apply for disability and work until I'm approved.
Jonathan:
Yeah, that's a tough one. Because in theory, if you're not engaging in what they call substantial gainful activity, which is a concept in Social Security, that's roughly equal amounts of work. In other words, if you're working in or doing something in SGA level, substantial gainful activity, that could be going to school that could be working, it could be volunteering, then you are not disabled. The problem is is that you One way to evaluate SGA, or substantial gainful activity is looking at your income. So you may be below the threshold, which let's round numbers around $1,300 dollars a month, gross. But if you're earning $1,000 a month consistently, then the judge is going to look at it certainly and say, Well, you know, if this person just put in another day or two, they could be over that threshold, I always like to tell my clients, in my view, Social Security sees disability in somewhat black and white terms, either you're disabled or you're not. If you're working part time, I think that muddies the water, I think it makes it more difficult, certainly at the initial and recon, the adjudication level or the administrative level, I think that if they see work after your alleged onset, they're pretty much going to deny you and certainly when I get to hearings, and there's earnings after onset, I'm going to have to explain it. And I've had judges that will change the onset date, to a point where the person's work really got to that, you know, $200 or $300 a month or $0. But I tell folks, you know, even though I think work is obviously a positive, it's good for you financially; it's good for you socially. You mentioned the whole notion of labeling yourself as disabled, which is not a good thing, either. Work is great; I think people should work as long as they can do so. But if you make the decision to file for disability, in my view, you sort of have to make a decision either I'm working or not. If you work part time, you can't be halfway disabled, either you are or you're not. And again, in my view, if you're earning $1,000 - $1,100 dollars a month, that makes it more difficult to win disability benefits.
Jayson:
And then lastly, Number Three, once I go on disability, well, I'll just work part-time and bump up my income level and stay under that threshold.
Jonathan:
Yeah, you know, it's interesting; I think that for some reason. And I think another reason why is that after you're approved Social Security is gives you a little more leeway in terms of working, they want people to get off of disability. So they have a number of programs. One, the big one is called the trial work period where you can work and earn, as you know, as much as you want $10,000 a month (as an example). And you can do you can do that for nine months in any five year period of time, without affecting your benefit. So somebody that wants to try to work and they go back to work for three or four months and they're earning, you know, large amounts of money, that's fine. There's also, there's a threshold for the trial work period month, I think it's $800 and something dollars a month. If you earn below that you don't use up one of your trial work periods and that changes every year. So I don't want to hone in on a particular number. And then they've got the SGA number, which again, is about $1,300 dollars a month, if you go over SGA, then, you know, they may try to cut you off. But you know, they give you some leeway they want you to try to work and what you're trying to get back into the work setting, what you have to be careful about is if you work beyond what you're allowed to work, if you use up your trial work period once or you go over SGA you could find yourself in an overpayment situation and they may not, it may not find out or may not notify you for years. So I've had a number of cases over the over my practice in my user practice where somebody gets a letter and says, you know, we overpaid you by $30,000 over the last five years, here's an envelope send it in within next week, which obviously nobody can do. And there's you know, there's there's a way you can ask for an administrator forgiveness of that you can ask for a hearing. But it's a really tough thing, so I would say if somebody decides to work, they need to get very familiar with the the rules for trial work periods, and substantial gainful activity and really keep track of when they received that, when they were paid, not when they did the work, when they actually were paid to make sure they don't go over those limits, because it can get really nasty if you have a big overpayment. And so it's critically unforgiving with regard to that, although it is, by the way, at this point, at least dischargeable in bankruptcy. I've had to do that a couple of times for folks. So big picture is yes, you can try to work. But be aware there are some there are very picky on rules. You gotta be real careful about that so you don't get into an overpayment situation.
Jayson:
Interesting, so you could actually run afoul of social security disability and end up having it discharged in a bankruptcy situation?
Jonathan:
Correct. That is, and there have been some efforts in Congress to eliminate that dischargeability for overpayments, but so far, it has not come to pass. So right now you can, and again, overpayments are very very disconcerting, to say the least when somebody gets a letter saying you owe all this money, they'll withhold tax returns and things like that. Yeah. And another point, just a brief point about working, I get calls from people, I've got a stock portfolio that I manage, or I have, I do a little bit of selling on Etsy, or or Facebook, Is that considered a problem. And it's a tough call because it's really a matter of not so much what you're earning, but what you're doing. So if you're doing something kind of on a regular basis for, you know, four or five hours a day that's a little more problematic if you're managing, you know, stock portfolio and you look at it once every two or three days and you may buy and sell three or four times a month probably not an issue, but got to be I tell people is when you get on disability, if you're doing anything of any substance, you know, whether you're volunteering, whether you're working, whether you're just watching your grandkids, keep track, keep a contemporaneous calendar or notes of what you're doing. So if later on, you're asked what you were doing, you can explain it because Social Security does these continuing reviews, they have two forms as a short form, and long form where they will ask you and it's sometimes it's random, sometimes it's based on what the judge has put in the decision. But they're going to look pretty much looking almost everybody asked them, you know, what you have been doing. And if it looks like you're doing work that could move termination and again, sometimes there's an overpayment problem. And certainly the bigger problem is getting benefits terminated, if this is what you rely on. So not that you shouldn't try to work but just know the rules.
Jayson:
And speaking of that, with the trial work period, they also have the Ticket to Work which that trial work period, I believe, might be considered part of it.
Jonathan:
Yeah, I don't know much about the ticket work. It's one of those programs that I, you know, I think that they have to work through one of the agencies in the state, and they give you a ticket, which allows you to try to get to work, and I encourage you to do so without affecting your benefits. The problem with the Ticket to Work is it's been a failure; they have very, very few people who have done it. And I think part of is because the rules are confusing, but I think part of it is that, you know, I think a lot of people are really wary about risking their benefits to try to work because the perception is if they try to work, and Social Security is going to say, well, now you said you can work. So we're going to cut you off. I don't think that, I think that fear is maybe a little bit overblown. But yeah, I think that, you know, there have certainly been some stories that people have told on the various forums that, you know, they went to the Ticket to Work, they did trial work, period and then next thing, you know, they got a notice of continuing disability review. So you know, maybe there's something to it, but I think it'd give a ticket to work that there's been some talk in Social Security about redoing it and changing it up. But the current Ticket to Work program has been an abject failure; very, very few people have taken advantage of it.
Jayson:
Interesting and I can see where it would be very beneficial. Obviously, from a governmental standpoint, you want somebody paying into the coffers not taking out. So if there's a way to get somebody off of disability that possibly can come off of it. That's beneficial, you know, from the big picture standpoint.
Jonathan:
Sure, and I think it's also beneficial for the person to. I mean, right, if you if your condition stabilizes and you can work, you're going to be happier, you're going to make more money, you're going to be more social, you know, to work if you can absolutely I think that you know, nobody should nobody wakes up in, you know, as a child and says, I want to be on disability. I think everybody sees it as a last resort. But if you have no choice, it's there. But yeah, you don't want to risk it. Because if you really can't work and you rely on that, you know, you don't need some bureaucrat in an office someplace, deciding you're able to work and cutting you off, and now you've got no money coming in. That's a real disaster.
Jayson:
Yeah, the removal of that safety net is a very scary proposition. So with that said, You are again, in Georgia out, you know, you're in the Atlanta area, what is the best way for people to get in touch with you?
Jonathan:
They can certainly email me directly. My email is my last name Ginsburg, ginsberg@gmail.com. They can call me at 770-393-4985, they can visit me online, I've got a website called 4, the number 4SocialSecuritydisability.com. I have a website called meetalisting.com, which is another website where I talk about the security listings. I've got one called gridrules, g r i d r u l e s, gridrules.net, which is another one, I have a podcast called SSDradio.com and I've got other websites, but those are the main ones. But again, anybody who has any questions, you know, quick question, I happy to answer those, I respond to a lot of questions. I also respond to the comments on the YouTube channel, I think you're going to put a link to that. I've got a lot of videos out there and I do respond to the comments there. People have questions and again, I think this is just an area that needs to be a little more clearly explained to folks and sometimes just a quick answer to a question can lead them down the right path and I'm happy to do that.
Jayson:
Great. Well, Jonathan, I appreciate your time. It's great, because there are so many questions that revolve around this and there's so much bad information out there. That's what I love about your YouTube channel is it's very concise. They're short, to this specific topic videos and my goodness, are there all sorts of topics out there. So it's not just Ankylosing Spondylitis. If you have other disabling conditions, you've probably done a video on it.
Jonathan:
Yeah, probably. I probably have. I'm always, in fact that one of the things I do once or twice a year, is I'll put a video out asking people, what do you want me to talk about? Because sometimes, you know, questions that would be, you know, front and center with somebody who's facing the disability process might be something I've thought of. So I'm always looking for ideas. So if anybody listening to this has any ideas for videos, let me know. Because I've got a, I've got a simple setup, again now with the technology where it is literally a video camera and some lights and I can pop a video out pretty quickly. I do a little research on it. So yeah, if there's any, any topics or concepts that somebody wants to know about, let me know. And I'll put it in the queue.
Jayson:
Yeah, it's amazing. I was just popping through some of your videos earlier today and there's a video you just put out a couple weeks ago, and it's already got 48,000 views. That's huge.
Jonathan:
Yes, it's funny; some of these videos kind of go viral and it's just interesting. I don't know, you know, my son, who's 27. He has a full time job, but he does my videos, kind of produces them and edits them. And so we'll kind of joke about it when we don't know which ones are going to go viral. Or sometimes it just hits a topic that people really want to know about. And I'll put it out there and you know, I find a lot of times people want to know, the stakes to avoid or tips to win or what's working now or how the question should ask how the coronavirus pandemic has affected things. So sometimes I'll put one out, then it just it just picks up a ton of views. What I did a number of years ago, which I kind of revisit periodically is, you know how to avoid being tricked by Judge for questions. And again, not that the judge is trying to trick people up. But they sometimes ask questions for a particular reason and if you don't know what they're really asking, you might answer incorrectly. So I explained that kind of decipher what that question meant and that was something that people found very interesting. And again, I love it, get a lot of comments and I love that, because I think YouTube is a social network, I mean, it's really something where there should be an exchange. I think that, you know, as a YouTuber, somebody produces a lot of YouTube videos; I think it's sort of your obligation to answer questions. This is not a one-way street; you want people to talk to you because again, I want to know what people want to want to know about so I can I can give it to them.
Jayson:
It's a fantastic channel and, again, everybody go to the show notes and follow the link, you'll absolutely be amazed at the just overwhelming amount of content here that you can just start picking and choosing as you go through, as you work your way down this path towards disability. So, Jonathan, I thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate it.
Jonathan:
My pleasure, Jayson, anytime and thank you for inviting me. I really enjoyed it.
Jayson:
Well I look forward to having you on again in the future. But you know, anybody listening, you have disability questions, thinking about applying, reach out to Jonathan and let him, you know, talk you through briefly what some of your options are and, and then go from there. So, again, thank you so much for your time.
Jonathan:
My pleasure. We'll talk talk again soon.
Jayson:
Yes, sir.
https://www.youtube.com/user/ginsbergssd
Attorney, YouTuber
Jonathan is an attorney located near Atlanta, Georgia that specializes in helping people with their disability cases. He also has over 350+ videos on his YouTube channel Social Security Disability Videos.