What Qualifies as a Disability?
by Tim Moore, Disability Representative in North Carolina
What qualifies as a Disability? As we say repeatedly on SSDRC, any condition, physical or mental, can result in a disability award as long as it does the following: 1) causes you enough functional limitations that you cannot go back to your past work and 2) causes you enough limitations that you cannot be expected to switch to some type of other work. This is what must be proven on every case and if you have to go to a hearing, your disability representative’s job will be proving this to your judge.
Social Security does has a list of conditions. Many medical conditions–physical, psychological, and psychiatric–are contained in the Social Security Administration’s Blue Book listings, otherwise known as the publication, “Disability Evaluation under Social Security”. When a condition is given a “listing”, the listing will describe in detail the requirements for being awarded disability through the listing.
Most people will not get approved this way, however. Many conditions, such as fibromyalgia are not even given a listing of their own. Based on my experience as a disability examiner who made decisions, and as an Accredited Disability Representative whose job is to win someone’s case and get them their benefits, I can state that the majority of cases at a hearing are won on the basis of reviewing a person’s medical history and their work history. These two things are compared to determine if a person will get disability benefits.
Information on Winning
The list on this page is far from inclusive. It does contain many of the conditions we commonly see listed on applications. For information on the process of how to get benefits, view the sections in the menu above titled “Applying” and “Winning Disability”. At the end of the main conditions list, we also provide answers to questions about being approved.
Physical and Mental Impairments
- ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Ankylosing spondylitis
- Anxiety disorder
- Arthralgia
- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Asthma, child
- Autoimmune disorders
- Avascular Necrosis
- Bipolar Disorder
- Back Pain
- Behcet’s disease
- Blindness
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Cerebral palsy
- Charcot-marie-tooth
- Cirrhosis
- Congestive heart failure
- Coronary Artery Heart Disease
- Crohn’s Disease
- Chronic Fatigue
- COPD
- Degenerative Disc Disease I
- Degenerative disc disease II
Which includes:
Spinal Stenosis,
Nerve Root Compression
Arachnoiditis - Depression
- Depression Part II
- Diabetes
- Drug and alcohol use
- Dystonia
- Endometriosis
- Epilepsy
- ESRD, End Stage Renal Disease
- Facet joint arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Foot drop
- Frozen Shoulder
- Glaucoma
- Gout
- Hashimoto’s disease
- Hearing loss
- Heart attack
- Hepatitis
- High blood pressure, hypertension
- HIV
- Low IQ
- Lupus
- Lupus – more discussion of the listing
- Lymphedema
- Memory Loss
- Migraines
- Morbid Obesity
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
- Narcolepsy
- Neuropathy
- OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder
- Osteoarthritis, Arthritis
- Pain
- Panic attacks, Anxiety disorder
- Post Polio
- Psoriatic Arthritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- RA, Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Rotator Cuff injury
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
- Schizophrenia
- Sciatica
- Scoliosis
- Seizures
- Sleep apnea
- Sleep disorders
- Stroke
- Tachycardia
- Tinnitus
- Ulcerative Colitis
Additional information about listed and non-listed conditions:
1. Getting approved if you do not meet a listing
2. If the person filing for disability meets the listing, can the judge still deny benefits?
3. How to Prove you are disabled and Win your Disability Benefits
4. What kind of cases win disability benefits?
5. How severe must your condition be to be awarded Social Security Disability or SSI?
6. Which conditions will social security recognize as a disability?
7. The Social Security Impairments listings
Facts about Medical Conditions and Answers to Disability Questions
- Section A
Including: Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Asbestosis, ACL injury…
- Section B
Including: Basal Cell Carcinoma, Behcet’s Disease, Bipolar Disorder…
- Section C
Including: Cardiomyopathy, Cardiovascular stenosis, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Celiac Disease…
- Section D
Including: Deep Venous Thrombosis, Degenerative Disc Disease, Developmental Delay, Diverticulitis…
- Section E
Including: Emphysema, Encephalopathy, Endocarditis, Endometriosis…
- Section F
Including: Facet Arthritis, Foot Drop, Frozen Shoulder…
- Section G
Including: Generalized anxiety disorder, Gastric Bypass, GERD, Glaucoma…
- Section H
Including: Hashimoto’s Disease, Head Trauma, Heart Attack, Heart Murmur, Hernia, Hernias, Herniated Disc…
- Section I
Including: Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Interstitial Cystitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome…
- Section K
Including: Kidney Disease, Kidney Failure…
- Section L
Including: Laminectomy, Learning Disability, Leukemia, Liver Disease, Low Back Pain…
- Section M
Including: Macular Degeneration, Major Depressive Disorder, Marfan Syndrome, Medullablastoma, Melanoma, Memory Loss…
- Section N
Including: Narcolepsy, Necrosis, Nephropathy, Nephrotic Syndrome…
- Section O
Including: OCD, Optic Neuritis, Osteoarthritis, Osteomyelitis…
- Section P
Including: Pancreatic Cancer, Pancreatitis, Panic Attacks, Parkinson’s Disease, Pemphigus…
- Section R
Including: Raynaud’s Disease, Renal Failure, Repetitive Stress Injury, Restless Leg Syndrome…
- Section S
Including: Sarcoidosis, Schizoaffective Disorder, Schizophrenia, Sciatica, Slceroderma, Scoliosis…
- Section T
Including: Tachycardia, Thrombosis, Tia Transient Ischemic Attacks, Tinnitus, Total Hip Replacement…
- Section U
Including: Ulcerative Colitis, Ulcers, Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disorder…
- Section V
Including: Vasculitis, Vertigo…
- Section W
Including: Wilson’s Disease, Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome
Overviews of Medical Conditions and Criteria for Receiving Disability
The following pages provide helpful overviews of potentially disabling mental and physical conditions. Each overview is preceded by a general description of the evaluation criteria used by the social security administration to render decisions on SSD and SSI disability claims.