The Power of Lay Statements: Strengthening Your VA Disability Claim

Lay statements from you are a powerful tool for your VA disability claims. They help show when your symptoms started, what problems you had over time, and how bad your symptoms are right now.

Lay statements are most powerful when they include specific details for a specific purpose, and we’ll talk about that more in a minute. We want you to tell the parts of your story that matter most for getting you approved at the rating you are entitled to. Deal with one condition at a time and be honest and accurate. Exaggeration can hurt your credibility, while downplaying your limitations can keep you from getting benefits you deserve. Go for the middle ground: honest and accurate.

• A Heads Up: The VA may choose to look at any conditions you bring up in your lay statements, so avoid talking about service-connected disabilities that are fairly rated. Give us a call if you have any questions.

When Your Symptoms Started (“Onset”)

Tell the VA when your symptoms started and include specific details. For example:

• I had multiple hard parachute landings during training, and my knees and neck started hurting.
  • I started walking funny when my service-connected knees flare up, and my back started to hurt during those times.
  • I began having really bad headaches when my tinnitus was at its worst.
  • After I got back from deployment, I would feel angry and short tempered for no good reason, and I would shout at my kids.

If you had problems during service but didn’t go to medical, explain why (for example: hazing, discouraged by superiors, fear of retribution or being moved from your unit).

The VA mostly can’t just take your word to show an in-service event, but you know what you felt and when you felt it, and that’s something the VA is required to consider. If the VA already recognizes you had an in-service illness or injury, focus much more on the next section.

Problems Over Time (“Continuity”)

Tell the VA how your symptoms kept going and what you did to deal with them. For example:

• My knees never got better after service, but I couldn’t afford to go to the doctor and didn’t have insurance. I took pain meds and dealt with it, and I still have problems now.
  • After my car accident in the military, my back never recovered all the way, and I kept having back problems until now. I saw a chiropractor sometimes when my back made me miss work, but that was expensive.
  • I never sorted out my anger or anxiety, just kept stuffing it down over the years until it got too bad to deal with on my own.

This testimony is especially important when the VA recognizes you had some event or injury during service, but then you went five, ten, or twenty years without any medical records for your condition. Your lay statement (and buddy statements!) are critical for bridging that gap.

How Bad Things Were and Are (“Severity”)

Tell the VA how severe your symptoms are and how they limit you, especially how they get in the way of doing work or work-like things. For example:

• I get so anxious having to deal with customers and supervisors that sometimes I call out sick so I don’t have to deal with anyone.
  • My headaches get so bad about once a month that I have to lie down in a dark room for a few hours to recover, or just go to sleep and sometimes miss work entirely.
  • The nerve pain down my legs goes all the way down to my toes and is there all the time. It feels like the side of my foot is asleep and it makes it hard to stand up after I’ve been sitting.

Remember that the goal is honest and accurate. If you’re not sure what things matter most for showing how bad your specific condition is, give us a call, and we can give you tips on what details the VA needs to know about.

• Whenever we ask for a lay statement, we’ll be asking for one or more of those specific things: Onset, Continuity, or Severity. When we do, please make sure to focus on what we ask you for most of all.

Every lay statement is strongest with a buddy statement to back you up, so think outside the box as you tell you history. Who else would have been there and experienced what you experienced? Who would remember when you complained about your symptoms? Who would have seen what you were going through after you got out of service?