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If an individual’s disability or impairment does not meet or equal the disability criteria of a medical listing in the Social Security disability handbook (often referred to as the impairment listing manual or the blue book), they may receive an allowance based upon medical and vocational factors (disability examiners refer to this as a med-voc allowance). What do I mean by medical and vocational factors? Sometimes, when an individual’s impairment does not “meet or equal” the exact disability criteria for a Social Security disability allowance (such as the number of hospitalizations for asthma, the percentage of blockage in an artery, the numbers of seizures occurring within a designated period, the extent of metastasis for a malignant tumor, etc), other factors may be taken into consideration. For instance, an individual’s age, work history, and educational background are evaluated in an effort to ascertain if an individual has the capacity to perform substantial gainful work activity in a competitive work force. After all, employers themselves consider an individual’s age, education, and work background when they apply for a job. Consequently, if these factors make it hard for an individual to be retrained or employed in a competitive work force, especially when consideration is given to their medical and/or mental impairment, they may be given a medical-vocational allowance for Social Security disability or SSI disability benefits. When a medical vocational allowance is given, this essentially means that (based on a claimant's education, work history, work skills, and level of functional limitations) the disability determination has been made that a claimant is no longer capable of doing their former jobs or working at any other suitable form of work. 
Social Security Disability and SSI Disability Information
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