The Social Security Administration has proposed regulations that would require claimants to undergo their disability hearings through Video Teleconferencing (VTC). This is where the claimant and their representative are present together in one location, while the Administrative Law Judge deciding the case is visible on a screen in another, usually a different city many miles away. Under current regulations, you can object to having a hearing by VTC. Social Security will grant that objection if it is submitted within thirty days, or under a limited set of other circumstances. However, under the new rules, this would not be an option. While this is just a proposal at this point, it carries significant implications. Claimants would be forced to have hearings with judges that are not local to their area. Also, a judge cannot as easily observe other things about claimants – their facial expressions, the way they walk into the room and sit down, their general demeanor – when operating through a video screen. Technical difficulties can interfere with the efficiency of hearings as well.