About This Site: A Disability Resource From Downard & Associates
Disability Next Steps is a free guide to the stages of a Social Security disability claim, operated by Downard & Associates, PLLC, a disability law firm in Lebanon, Tennessee. It is not a government website and not a lawyer directory. Every guide links the rules it relies on.
We built this site for people who are not ready to hire anyone yet, and for the family members helping them. It should be useful to someone who never contacts us.
Who runs Disability Next Steps
Downard & Associates has practiced disability law since 2002. Today, Social Security disability is all we do. We represent adults with SSDI and SSI claims in every state by phone and video, under the federal rules that allow representation before Social Security nationwide, and we refer federal court cases to a trusted affiliate firm.
J. Ray Akers Jr. is the firm’s managing attorney, licensed in Tennessee since 2004 (TN BPR #023471). Ray Akers came to disability law from family law. He describes the work in five words:
“Help. Listen. Talk it through. Teach. Learn.”Ray Akers, Managing Attorney, Downard & Associates
Sources: 42 U.S.C. 406; 20 CFR 404.1705.
How the guides on this site are written
- Primary sources first. Every rule is linked to the regulation or the Social Security page it comes from, so you can check it.
- No numbers that go stale. Wait times change every month, so we point to Social Security’s own current figures rather than printing a number that will be wrong soon.
- No promises about outcomes. We explain how the process works. Nobody can tell you in advance how a claim will be decided.
- Plain English. A term of art gets defined once, then used normally.
What this disability resource is not
This site is general information, not legal advice about your claim. It is not part of the Social Security Administration or any government agency, and it is not a directory of independent lawyers. The worksheets and the stage questions run in your browser; nothing you type into them is sent to us.
Talk with Downard & Associates about your claim
Downard & Associates represents adults with SSDI and SSI claims in every state by phone and video, from applications through Appeals Council review. Sending an inquiry starts a conversation; it does not file anything with Social Security. We respond to inquiries within 3 business hours.
Representation before Social Security nationwide: 42 U.S.C. 406; 20 CFR 404.1705.