Multiple sclerosis is the condition we know best. Thomas Stewart is both a Social Security Disability lawyer and a licensed physician assistant, and he runs the disability program at the Rocky Mountain MS Center. We understand MS from inside the exam room and inside the hearing — and we know how to turn your symptoms into the specific work limitations Social Security has to credit.
The MS symptoms that decide a claim — and what they mean for work
An MS claim rarely turns on the diagnosis. It turns on connecting your day-to-day symptoms to the concrete reasons you can no longer hold a full-time job. These are the connections we document:
- Fatigue → time off task and unplanned breaks. MS fatigue that forces rest breaks totaling an hour or more a day means you cannot stay on task the ~85% of the workday every job requires.
- Cognitive “fog” → limited to simple work, and still off task. Trouble with memory, concentration, and processing speed can limit you to simple, routine tasks — and often keeps you off task beyond what any employer tolerates.
- Relapses and bad days → too many absences. Full-time work allows roughly one absence a month. The relapsing, unpredictable course of MS routinely exceeds that.
- Hand incoordination and weakness → even sit-down work is out. Difficulty typing, handling small objects, or using a phone undercuts sedentary jobs, which assume near-constant use of the hands.
- Walking, balance, and heat sensitivity → fewer jobs remain. Limits on standing and walking, or symptoms that flare in heat, narrow the work that is realistically left.
How Social Security evaluates MS
SSA reviews MS under listing 11.09. You can qualify by meeting the listing — serious, disorganized movement in two limbs, or a marked physical limitation plus a marked limitation in thinking, social functioning, or self-management — or, far more often, by showing your real-world capacity cannot sustain full-time work. See how Social Security disability decisions work →
Why our medical background wins MS claims
Because Thomas is a physician assistant, he reads your records the way a clinician does — spotting the fatigue, cognitive, and relapse evidence an untrained claim misses, and working with your neurologist to get it into the chart. That is what separates a strong MS claim from a denial.
Talk with an MS disability lawyer
No fee unless you win — 25% of past-due benefits, capped at $9,200. We represent MS clients nationwide, including private long-term disability (ERISA) claims managed alongside SSDI. Start your free case review → or call (720) 301-9708.
