June 16, 2026
One of the greatest hardships that someone can face is a health event that leads to a disabling condition that leads to an inability to work, which, in turn leads to a loss of income. If that disabling condition is long-term, a person should be able to apply for Disability benefits and start receiving monthly income.
But getting approved for Disability benefits in the State of Illinois is notoriously difficult:
- High initial denials: Approximately 65-70% of initial applications in Illinois are denied, requiring applicants to go through the lengthy appeals process;
- Long wait time: Illinois is facing severe backlogs, with some studies ranking Illinois at the bottom of the 8 states with the worst processing times, sometimes exceeding 200 days for initial decisions;
- Long waits for the last level of appeals with an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ): Once a person’s disability application has been denied at the appeals stages, the last appeal is with an ALJ, but people may have to wait for 12-18 months for their ALJ hearing.
These statistics are grim. The people who are waiting for disability benefits – sometimes waiting years for their cases to wind their way through the process – also have no income for their living expenses. Many people end up in dire situations where they are losing their housing, selling off possessions to survive, and becoming homeless. Many of us are only one illness, injury, or accident away from needing disability benefits.
CCHCC is here to help our community members get through the Disability application process as smoothly as possible, and as quickly as possible – and we are good at it! Over the years, we have been able to build a team of Disability Application Specialists who are available to serve anyone in Champaign County. And, as with all of our other services, our Disability Application Services are free!
And, we are very happy to announce that one of our Disability Application Specialists is now an attorney! Babatunde Amao, CCHCC’s Director of Health & Disability Policy, is now a licensed attorney in the State of Illinois. As such, Babatunde is able to represent his disability clients at the ALJ level. In a few short months, Babatunde has already received three approvals from the ALJ level, including one case involving a child!