Social Security Disability Criteria

There are two different types of Social Security Disability Criteria. The first involves your basic eligibility to file an application for SSD. To do this, you need simply to be insured for title 2 disability benefits, otherwise known as social security disability. How do you become insured? Through the taxes paid into the social security system as a result of your work activity (most commonly through payroll deductions).

Are some individuals not insured for social security disability? Yes, individuals who have not been in the work force for very long may not be insured. Also, individuals with large gaps in their work history (perhaps due to illness) may be in the position of having lost their insured status for social security disability. What happens if you are not insured for social security disability? In most cases, the social security office will simply take an SSI disability application on you (SSI disability covers individuals who are not eligible for SSD and who do not have assets in excess of two thousand dollars).

The second type of social security disability criteria has to do with whether or not a disability claimant can satisfy the social security administration's definition of disability. And to do this a person must must have a physical impairment or a mental impairment (or both) that ---

A. Is considered severe.

B. Lasts for at least twelve months, or can be projected, based on a review of the medical evidence, to last that long.

c. Prevents the disability claimant from working at one of their past jobs or from performing suitable "other work" as determined by their age, education, work skills, and physical and/or mental limitations.

In essence, if a disability examiner or disability judge reads a claimant's medical records and decides that the claimant's condition meets the minimum 12 month durational requirement and further determines that the claimant is incapable of going back to a past job or doing some suitable form of "other work", then their claim for social security disability or SSI disability will be approved.




Return to the Social Security Disability SSI Benefits Blog




Here is a list of pages from this blog that discuss the various aspects of social security disability criteria.

The criteria to file an application for social security disability or SSI
Decision criteria - how does social security decide cases?
Do you have to be totally permanently disabled to get disability?
Criteria for Qualifying for disability
Disability requirements and eligibility criteria
Who qualifies for disability?
Is it difficult to satisfy the criteria for qualifying for disability?