Today, I thought I would start a short series of posts that explain the basics of filing for disability and the rules that the Social Security Administration (SSA) uses to determine your eligibility for benefits.

Before we get into the application and appeals process, it is important to understand what “disability” means to Social Security.

SSA regulations define “disability” as the inability to do any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.

In evaluating whether an individual meets this definition of disability, SSA uses a process that it calls the “sequential evaluation.”  This process consists of the following 5 steps of analysis.

The decision maker must:

1.  Determine whether the claimant is currently engaged in “substantial gainful activity” (working). (If yes, the analysis stops with a finding of not disabled.  If no, it continues.)

2.  Determine whether the claimant has a “severe impairment.”  (The answer must be yes to continue.)

3.  Determine whether the “severe impairment” meets or equals one of the listed conditions that SSA has determined to be presumptively disabling. (If yes, the analysis stops here and the claimant is found disabled. If no, the analysis continues to the next step)

4.  Determine whether the “severe impairment” prevents the claimant from performing his past work. (If no, stop.  If yes, continue).

5.  Determine whether the “severe impairment” prevents the claimant from making an adjustment to other work wich exists in significant numbers in the economy. (If yes, he is disabled. If no, he is not disabled).

In my next posts, I will discuss each of these steps in further detail.  I will also discuss the procedures you need to follow in filing your claim for benefits.  In the meantime you can read more details about SSA’s rules in the Social Security Handbook.

Thanks for reading,

Mike Hartup