The SSA’s “Blue Book” of Medical Conditions for SSDI
The "Blue Book" explains in great detail the medical conditions and criteria that the SSA uses to help determine if a person is eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits.
The Use of Vocational Experts at Disability Hearings
As part of the five-step disability determination process, the Social Security Administration must determine whether you can perform your past work, or adjust to different work in the national economy, given your physical and/or mental conditions.
Can You Perform Your Past Relevant Work?
Step four of Social Security Administrations’s process for determining disability requires that the claimant prove that they cannot perform their “past relevant work,” and there are some important factors to understand about how the SSA makes this determination.
What Is a Severe Impairment?
The heart of the matter is whether or not the applicant can "sustain" their work. In this article, we break down what that means, and provide three examples of common impairments.
How does Social Security Determine a Listed Impairment?
The third step in the SSA's five-step evaluation process asks whether your condition(s) meet or equal a “Listing Impairment.”
How Does Social Security Determine My Residual Functional Capacity?
In making a decision on your claim, Social Security will determine your maximum Residual Functional Capacity, or RFC.
How Social Security Decides Disability by “The Grids”
This is a complex process, but a part of it involves a tool called the Medical Vocational Guidelines, also called “The Grids”, which helps guide the SSA in determining disability.
Medical Professionals Play Key Role in Deciding SSDI Qualification
A disabled individual's medical professionals (doctors, nurses, NPs, PACs) provides crucial evidence of mental and physical impairments that can make or break an SSDI claim.