SSD Disability: Does Age Help You Get Social Security Disability?

The Social Security Administration considers several factors to establish an individual’s entitlement to Social Security disability or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability, and age is one of those criteria.

To insure a more uniform disability process, Social Security established a set of vocational guidelines to aid disability examiners and medical personnel in their decision making process. These medical-vocational guidelines have become known as “The Grid”.

Basically, Social Security has established four physical weight limited categories to help evaluate the physical limits of an individual's past work and the potential "other work" an individual may be able to perform in spite of the limitations imposed upon them by their disabling condition or conditions.

These categories are sedentary, light, medium, and heavy work. Sedentary work involves the lifting of no more than ten pounds at any time; light work involves the lifting of no more than ten pounds frequently and no more than twenty pounds occasionally; medium work involves the ability to lift twenty-five pounds frequently and fifty pounds occasionally; heavy work is the frequent lifting of more than fifty pounds.

So what does this have to do with age affecting your ability to receive Social Security disability? As I stated above, Social Security has established a grid of sorts, which takes factors other than medical information into consideration when making a disability decision. These other factors include age, skills, education, and residual functional capacity.

Social Security set up age categories to help with the disability decision process. Individuals who are 18 to 44 are considered young individuals, those 45-49 are younger individuals, those 50-54 are considered to be approaching advance age, and 55 and over individuals are considered advanced age.

Social Security uses these age groups along with A) an individual’s residual functional capacity (i.e. sedentary, light, medium, and heavy weight work), B) the skill level of an individual’s past work, and C) their education to establish an individual’s disability if the individual does not meet or equal the diability criteria for a impairment listing in the Social Security disability handbook.

For example, if an individual is unable to perform a full range of sedentary work they are likely to be an allowance at any age. If an individual is 45-49 they will, most likely, be allowed if they are illiterate or do not write or read English, have performed unskilled work (or no work). If they are limited to sedentary work, however they would most likely be denied disability if they are literate, even if they have performed unskilled work (or no work).

Medical-vocational rules are more favorable if an individual is approaching advanced (ages 50-54). If they are limited to sedentary work or less, and they have unskilled work or their work skills do not transfer to other types work, they are likely to be approved for disability even if they have more education. Social Security does not expect a lot of vocational adjustment (retraining) for individuals who are approaching advanced age, if they are limited to sedentary work.

The Social Security medical vocational rules, however, are most favorable to individuals who are 55 and older. If an individual is 55 or older and is limited even to light work, or less than a full range of medium work, they may be approved for disability even if they have a high school education and their work was unskilled or their skills are not transferable. Social Security expects very little vocational adjustment at this age.

These are just examples. Even if you do not fit the medical vocational classifications for an approval at your age exactly, there is still a chance that your disability claim is winnable. This is why it is beneficial for most individuals to obtain the services of a knowledgeable Social Security representative should they be attending an administrative law judge disability hearing. A good working knowledge of the Social Security medical vocational grid could lead to a Social Security disability approval at a disability hearing.