About the Author
Hi, my name is Paul Paradis. I write and edit every guide on this site.
I built Disability Trust AI for one reason: the people trying to navigate Social Security and VA disability benefits are usually the worst-positioned to do it. They are sick, exhausted, financially strained, and working from fragments of information scattered across agency PDFs, message boards, and outdated blog posts that assume the reader already speaks the vocabulary. Small misreadings of those fragments turn into missed deadlines, denied applications, and appeals that go sideways. That situation is fixable with clearer writing, and that is what this site tries to do.
What I am, and what I am not
I want to be plain about the limits of who is writing this. I am not a lawyer. I am not a doctor. I am not an accredited representative, a Social Security employee, or a Veterans Service Officer. I do not work for any federal or state agency, and I do not have a financial relationship with any law firm, advocacy group, or referral network. I have not taken money to recommend any service.
What I do have is years of independent research into how these programs actually work in practice: the five-step sequential evaluation the SSA uses, the role of residual functional capacity, how Blue Book listings are applied, how consultative exams are scored, how appeal levels differ, and why the same diagnosis can produce a denial for one claimant and an approval for another. A lot of that knowledge comes from reading SSA regulations (20 CFR Part 404 and Part 416), HALLEX, POMS, the Blue Book, VA rating schedules (38 CFR Part 4), published OIG reports, appeals-council remands, and public ALJ decisions — slowly and out loud, until the vocabulary stopped being a wall.
How each guide is written
Every page on this site is drafted by me from source, not generated wholesale and published. The workflow is:
- Pull the primary source. The rule, regulation, or agency page the guide is actually about — not a secondary write-up of it.
- Draft in plain English. Translate the rule into ordinary language, with the technical term named once so the reader learns the vocabulary without drowning in it.
- Pressure-test against real claim patterns. Check the draft against the denial and approval patterns I have seen in published ALJ decisions and appeals-council cases — especially the cases where the reader would predict the opposite outcome.
- Strip the hedging and the sales language. If a sentence does not help the reader make a decision or understand a rule, it gets cut.
- Date the page. When a figure or rule changes, the guide gets updated and the date on the page moves with it.
What I will not do
I will not tell a reader whether they will be approved. I will not estimate anyone's benefit amount. I will not give legal advice, draft appeal arguments, or interpret an individual medical record. I will not review case files sent in by readers, and the site does not exist to solicit that work. If a reader needs those services, the right next step is a licensed disability attorney, an accredited representative, or the agency itself — and each guide that touches those decisions says so directly.
I will also not endorse a law firm or advocacy group by name, sell lead information, or let a paid relationship change what a guide says. Some pages may include clearly labeled partner links to third-party services (attorney directories, advocacy groups, or benefits tools); if a reader clicks one and uses the service, Disability Trust AI may receive compensation. Those labels do not change what the guide says and are never required to read the site. See Privacy and Terms for the full disclosure.
Why the tone is the way it is
You will not find promise language on this site. No “win your claim,” no “get approved fast,” no “we fight for you.” The disability system does not work that way, and writing as if it does sets readers up to make the wrong choices. You will find clear statements of what a rule says, what a decision-maker actually reads in a file, where a borderline case tends to turn, and what a reader can realistically do next. That posture is deliberate. It is the posture I would want if I were the person reading this site at two in the morning while waiting to hear back on a claim.
Reach out
The best way to reach me about a guide — a correction, a broken link, a topic that needs a plain-language pass — is the reader feedback form. For business, advertising, or partnership inquiries only, email advertise@disabilitytrustai.com.
— Paul
Disability Trust AI does not provide individual claim assistance or case support. It is an educational resource only. For advice on a specific claim, speak with a licensed disability attorney, an accredited representative, or the appropriate government agency directly.