I am currently in the process myself. I do not have an attorney at this time. I applied in May, in November I had my three doctor appts. This past Saturday, January 3, I received a letter saying I had been medically approved and my application was in the non-medical portion. They had determined I became medically disabled in July. So I'm now currently waiting on the second part and I'm in month 8 now.
I will say this is my second time, the first time only took 3 months from application to approval. This was over 10 years ago and I was able to get a full time job about a year after getting on it.

I would get an attorney. It took mine 8 months to get mine approved. She did an outstanding job for me. My attorney told me that blindness is pretty cut and dry. It is easier to measure than say, back pain. If you can provide your attorney with your medical records it will speed things up and reduce your costs. Social Security caps attorney fees at $6000. The longest delay is waiting for Social Security to make the decision.

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