The pain is close to unbearable. Your back continues to ache even after three surgeries. You’ve had one knee replaced and the other will likely get the same treatment soon. And both hips have been replaced. The result: You are unable to work.
Such ailments that have accrued over time as well as unexpected medical hardships may qualify you for Social Security disability benefits. After all, you’ve been working for more than 25 years, and that means you’ve made more than 25 years of payments into the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) system from your paycheck. If it’s time to seek benefits due to ill health, you should do so.
Among the ailments that qualify a person for SSDI
For adults, ailments related to the following categories may qualify you for disability. We’ve included examples of some of the disorders:
- Musculoskeletal system: Arthritis, back pain, joint pain.
- Special senses and speech: Visual disorders, blindness and loss of hearing.
- Respiratory disorders: Bronchitis, emphysema, cystic fibrosis and asthma.
- Cardiovascular system: Heart failure, heart disease, heart transplant and coronary artery disease.
- Digestive system: Inflammatory bowel disease, liver dysfunction.
- Genitourinary disorders: Chronic kidney disease
- Hematological or blood-related disorders: Lymphoma, leukemia HIV/AIDS and lupus.
- Skin disorders: Dermatitis, burns, chronic skin infections and lesions
- Neurological disorders: Epilepsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy.
- Mental disorders: schizophrenia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism.
Although you know that you are disabled and unable to work, it’s the Social Security Administration (SSA) that decides whether you qualify for disability insurance. But the SSA is overworked and understaffed, while, at the same time, there’s been an increase of applications from aging baby boomers.
The result is a system that has turned into a quagmire as people who apply for disability are forced to wait three to five months before they find out anything. In addition, roughly two-thirds of first-time SSDI applications get denied. You may file an appeal, but more than 1 million Americans are currently on the waiting list to meet with a Social Security judge.
Please don’t let these developments dishearten you. Keep pushing for what is right and what you deserve.
