What Is the Meaning of “Disabled”?
Under the rules set forth by Social Security, you’re considered “disabled” if your medical condition or injury is expected to keep you from working for at least one full year (or eventually lead to death). Your disability can be a physical condition, a mental condition, or a combination of multiple conditions.
If you can’t work, you need to schedule regular medical appointments so you have enough medical evidence to prove your case to Social Security.
In general, Social Security considers you to have a qualifying disability if:
- You can no longer do work that you did before.
- You can’t adjust to other work because of your medical conditions.
- Your disability has lasted or is expected to last for at least one year or will eventually be fatal.
In the case of Supplemental Security Income benefits, having few financial resources and an inability to work right now are the key facts that decide your claim.
With SSI, you might hear the term “presumptive disability.” What is presumptive disability?
Because it can take Social Security months to review your SSI claim, if you have certain extremely serious medical conditions, you can start receiving benefits quickly under “presumptive disability.”
This is a term Social Security uses to declare that you will receive benefits in the meantime while they continue reviewing your claim. These payments can last for six months.
Social Security can decide you have a presumptive disability when you have qualifying impairments such as amputations, strokes, complete immobility, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), terminal illnesses and several others.
An experienced disability advocate will know what options are available to you—and how to pursue them.
CONTACT US today about your disability case. Hanley Disability has helped thousands of others and can make a difference for you when you need a financial break.
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