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Many individuals who consider applying for social security disability (SSD) or supplemental security income (SSI) are put off by the fact that, in order to collect disability benefits, the social security administration (SSA) requires that they prove they are “totally” disabled. However, what these individuals may not realize is that social security’s definition of disability is not necessarily that of society at large. You do not have to be blind, in a wheelchair, or in a catatonic state to be eligible for SSD or SSI benefits. The SSA considers your disability to be total and complete if you can demonstrate, through medical records/documentation, that: 1) You suffer from a severe impairment that prevents you from being able to engage in substantial gainful activity (SGA). The SGA amount is set annually by the SSA, and is currently $940 for non-blind individuals. So, if you are unable to earn at least this amount because of your medical condition, you have met the first criterion for SSD/SSI approval. 2) Your disability makes it impossible for you to work at your current job or to perform any other past work that would allow you to earn the SGA. 3) Your symptoms are not likely to improve, even with prescription medicine, physical therapy, or psychiatric? counseling, enough to allow you to earn the SGA for at least 12 months. The social security disability system does appear, at least on the surface, to have a much more flexible definition of total disability than one would expect, and even takes into consideration an individual’s education level, past work experience, and age (as one gets older it does get harder to find full-time work) when deciding if that person is now capable of earning a living. However…there are drawbacks to the system, and in reality it can be less than compassionate. For instance, state disability examiners rely on a vocational grid to determine the types of work options open to disabled individuals. Very often this vocational grid does not present jobs that are available in the disability applicant’s area, and offers the claimant no real alternative means of employment. It may take an experienced disability attorney to, essentially, point out the obvious to a federal disability judge before an applicant is finally awarded benefits, and even then the financial relief comes too late to save the applicant from severe financial repercussions. To make matters worse, due to a large increase in the number of SSD/SSI applications filed each year and the resultant backlogs in the system, many disabled individuals must wait 2 to 3 years before they ever see their first disability check. 
Social Security Disability and SSI Disability Information
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