Who Is Considered Disabled for Social Security Disability: Duration Requirement

The criteria for being considered disabled is this: you must have a severe medical condition that results in an inability to work at the SGA level (basically earning $1,010 per month) and your condition, or impairment, must last, or be expected to last, at least 12 calendar months.

Durational Requirement

Not surprisingly, most claims for Social Security benefits based on disability are given what is called a "durational denial." That is, even though a claimant's condition is acknowledged to be severe, and to prevent that person from working, the SSA decides that the condition will not last a full twelve months.

This is unfortunate, since how long a condition will last is always a subjective matter. In fact, it is particularly subjective in disability cases because, although disability claims examiners are highly trained, the truth is: they are not doctors, and have no specific medical training. And although claims examiners consult with doctors assigned to their units at Disability Determination Services (DDS), these doctors never see, and will never see, the claimants whose conditions they evaluate. Very often, DDS doctors (also referred to as medical consultants and medical examiners) come to conclusions that are very different from the doctors who actually treat claimants.

Combining Impairments

If you have one severe impairment that is expected to last less than a year, and another, unrelated impairment that overlaps but is also expected to last less than 12 months, you can't combine them to meet the 12-month requirement. For example, if one disabling impairment started eight months ago and then stopped and another disabling impairment started three months ago but is expected to last only eight months, the duration requirement will not be met, even though you will be unable to work for a total of 13 months.