Some of the topics discussed on other pages are elaborated upon here. Readers may also wish to consult the Links page from which one can move to other relevant sites.

Click on Q1, Q2, Q3, etc. to see a response to any of the questions below.

Q1: Is proving disability really as difficult as it has been portrayed here?

Q2: Must a claimant be permanently disabled for at least one year in order to qualify for Social Security Disability benefits?

Q3: What are the procedures and factors the Social Security Administration uses to determine disability?

Q4: Are there literally medically defined criteria which guide the Social Security Administration in their rulings on disability?

Q5: Will Social Security consider two or more medical conditions which, in combination, could render a person disabled?

Q6: May alcoholics and drug abusers qualify for Social Security Disability?

Q7: Is it possible to qualify for both Worker's Compensation and Social Security Disability at the same time?

Proving disability is just as difficult and time-consuming as it has been portrayed here. Aside from some profoundly disabled individuals whom even the Social Security Administration cannot deny, most people face what was outlined on these pages. Typically, the balanced and independent views of an administrative law judge are required for someone's circumstances to be fairly weighed. It is important to keep in mind the definition of disability employed by the Social Security Administration and how restrictive that is.

This question demonstrates two very erroneous assumptions often made about Social Security Disability.

First, one need not be permanently disabled to be found eligible for Disability payments. A disability must be documented and it has to be evident for one or more years, but it need not be permanent.

Second, one need not wait for one year to begin the procedure of filing an application, filing a reconsideration, and filing for a court hearing. The disability must last at least one year, but filing for Disability payments may begin just as soon as there is sufficient evidence to pursue payments

The procedures and practices that Social Security reputedly use to determine disability include:

• a claimant must have an impairment (or impairments) to preclude doing any work in the national economy;
• "work" is defined as "substantial gainful activity." Although this appears vague, a claimant representative can typically explain this in terms of dollars earned within a period of time;
• "substantial gainful activity" is determined by consideration of age, education, work experience, and "functional capacity;"
• "functional capacity" is a key concept best explained by the claimant representative;
• a determination of disability rests with the claimant's recent history of having any substantital gainful activity and severe impairment for 12 or more months (Question 4 above explores the medical dimensions of impairment and disability).

Medically defined criteria exist to guide the Social Security Administration and administrative law judges in their rulings on determining disabilty.

In general, the mind and body are defined by function within different systems, e.g.,

• endocrine;
• immune;
• respiratory;
• cardiovascular;
• musculoskeletal;
• circulatory;
• etc.

Minimum function for these, or other, systems are defined and these functional parameters are used in judging disability.

Different criteria exist for adults and children. Children are not discussed on this Web site, but the Disability Claims' representative is well qualified to answer questions about children as well.

Social Security's literature demonstrates an awareness of the fact that one condition, alone, might not qualify a person as disabled but, when combined with one or more other conditions, being disabled is a possibility.

Speculating about what Social Security actually does in light of their own literature is not productive, however. This is why this Web site, and others, emphasizes the need for a claimant representative and the persistence to "stay the course," i.e.,be denied at the application stage, be denied at the reconsideration stage, and then present a well-documented and logical case to an admimistrative law judge at a hearing.

Neither alcoholism nor any other kind of drug abuse can qualify a claimant for Social Security Disability. Rumors persist that alcoholics and other drug abusers, on occasion, qualify for Disability, but they invariably have other medical or emotional impairments by which they were judged disabled. That they abuse drugs or alcohol is a coincidental and concommitant condition, but not one weighed in finding them disabled.

It is possible to qualify, simultaneously, for both Worker's Compensation and Social Security Disability. The amount of disability payments will not double however. A monthly amount of disability pay will be established and, depending upon the state in which one resides, the amount of Worker's Compensation and Social Security payments will be adjusted so that the maximum benefit is not exceeded.

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Disability Claims: Disability Claims