Return to Videos The decision on your SSDI or SSI claim is made at different levels. At the intake level it's made by administrative personnel who take a look at your case and see if the medical documentation is enough to meet a medical listing. If you get turned down at that point, then it essentially becomes a vocational case and they're not approved generally until you actually have a hearing. At which point in time an administrative law judge will make a determination whether or not you either meet a medical listing, which is rare at that stage, or whether or not that, based on your physical and mental afflictions, whether there are any jobs that are available that you can still do in the national economy. If you can’t, then you should be determined to be disabled.