You’ve finally discovered the key to winning your disability benefits claim:
Tell the finest tale possible.
This is the first post you should read if you are unfamiliar with how we work at Resolute Legal. It educates you how to tell a better tale than your opponents while representing clients in disability claims or appeals.
This is the first post you should read if you are unfamiliar with how we work at Resolute Legal. It educates you how to tell a better tale than your opponents while representing clients in disability claims or appeals.
When it’s done correctly, this is the 10,000-foot view of the disability claim or appeal process.
If you are filing for benefits or appealing a denial of benefits, you must understand what drives the decision-maker to rule in your favor, regardless of the sort of disability claim you are dealing with. Simply put, they will judge in your favor if the tale you tell is more genuine and credible than the alternative terrible stories about you.
You’ll know exactly how to increase your chances of being granted for disability benefits, even after a denial, once you grasp that telling is the key to success.
Continue reading if this sounds like something you’d like to learn more about.
A Second Chance Case Study
I’ve known that the greatest story wins since law school in the early 2000s, but it wasn’t until 2014 that I realized how important it is in disability claims and appeals.
I’ve known that the greatest story wins since law school in the early 2000s, but it wasn’t until 2014 that I realized how important it is in disability claims and appeals.
She was granted a second chance, and she was determined to succeed.
She had previously been represented by another lawyer, but she requested that I represent her at this current hearing. She became Resolute Legal’s first CPP Disability appeal client after I agreed to defend her.
She had previously been represented by another lawyer, but she requested that I represent her at this current hearing. She became Resolute Legal’s first CPP Disability appeal client after I agreed to defend her.
I recognized what I had gotten myself into after reviewing all of the claim forms, the proof she had submitted, and her lawyer’s representations to the Review Tribunal.
There’s no way around it: her case was a shambles.
Her tale was riveting, yet it was absent from the evidence and records submitted to the Review Tribunal. I told her we needed to rewrite the entire tale of her case because she was telling the wrong one. Worse, she was actively supporting the bad narratives that were being spun against her.
The legal submissions to the new Tribunal were rewritten by myself. We concentrated on crafting a more persuasive tale that highlighted all of her efforts to stay in the workforce. We responded directly to all of Service Canada’s unfavorable statements about her.
What’s the end result? Prior to the hearing, Service Canada decided to approve her case.
That’s right, you read that correctly. Service Canada had won her previous hearing, but after receiving our updated legal representations, they opted to grant her claim right away rather than having it reheard.
The winner is the best story.
Since the beginnings of the legal profession in ancient Rome, it has been a fundamental reality of legal argument that the best tale wins. Our legal system is founded on an adversarial concept that dates back to early Roman times. Two sides of a disagreement submit their sides of the story to a decision-maker in this paradigm. The decision-maker favors one side over the other by selecting the most convincing story.
In an adversary system, you win by telling the best tale. This is why the training of the first lawyers was solely centered on rhetoric – the art of persuasion through storytelling. This is why today’s top legal lawyers continue to prioritize storytelling over anything else.
Storytelling does not imply deception or fabrication; on the contrary, it does. Great storytelling must be genuine, convincing, and balanced, taking into account both good and negative information. If the decision-maker suspects you of fabricating facts, stretching the truth, or being dishonest in any manner, your claim is more likely to be denied.
So, what constitutes a good story?
In the context of legal argument, successful storytelling entails developing a narrative that the decision-maker prefers. It’s a story and a collection of legal arguments centered on the decision-maker and what they’d find convincing, believable, and genuine.
At the end of the day, a tale is successful if it persuades the decision-maker to choose it over the alternative.
Disability Claims Storytelling
The adversarial method is used in the majority of disability claims. When it comes to deciding your claim, the decision-maker is faced with two competing narratives: yours and the disability benefits provider’s. Your story explains why the claim should be allowed, whereas theirs explains why it should be refused.
You’re not alone if you didn’t perceive the disability claim or appeal procedure to be a narrative exercise. Indeed, one of the most common errors we encounter is people preparing applications and appeals without first considering the story they want to tell.
Two more bad stories about you fight with the story you’re presenting about yourself.
For starters, you’re up against the disability benefits provider’s negative narrative. They will submit data and facts to establish that you are not eligible for disability benefits.
Second, you’ll be up against a negative story the decision-maker is telling themselves about you in many circumstances. This bad story can be conscious or subconscious, and it is based on the deeply ingrained negative stereotype of the disability cheat, as well as a phenomenon known as confirmation bias.
The Stereotype of the Disabled Cheater
Before you dig deeper into your tale, you should be aware of how negative stereotypes and confirmation bias can make you appear to be a disability cheater, even if you aren’t.
A negative stereotype is a straightforward but inaccurate representation of a social group and its members. Disability claimants must contend with a pervasive negative stereotype: the cheater. To take advantage of the system, disability fraudsters lie or cover up. They blame others for their difficulties, believe they know more than others, and refuse to return to work or improve.
Of course, you’ll never meet someone like this in real life. You may know people who claim to know a disability cheat, but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll likely discover that they don’t.
If you have a disability, you may have previously been subjected to this stereotype. Before your disability, you may have had these views as well. In any case, you should be aware that this negative stereotype may stand in the way of your claim clearance due to a second issue: confirmation bias.
Bias Against Confirmation
If we are not careful, we can all fall victim to confirmation bias. It’s the way people hunt for anything that confirms their own opinions while dismissing everything that contradicts them. It’s something almost everyone does, and we’re often unaware of it.
If the individual considering your claim believes in the disability cheat stereotype, which most people do, any material in your claim that appears to be false will stand out, while your positive points will go away.
People who think this way aren’t inherently evil or wicked; they’re simply misinformed. However, whether you mean to or not, if anything in your claim makes you appear to be a disability cheater, you are telling a losing story.
Taking use of confirmation bias by giving information and facts that prove you fit the disability cheat stereotype is a popular tactic used by disability benefits providers. This is generally subtle or implied; they won’t accuse you of being a fraud overtly. The idea is to persuade the decision-maker that the tale about the disability cheat is more credible than the one you’re telling.