Living with a sudden life-altering injury or life-long limitations can make regular activities feel like chores. Here’s what to know about applying for disability and the benefits you’ll receive after application.
What Is Disability Under ADA?
According to the ADA—the Americans with Disabilities Act—the legal term “disability” refers to a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. It can also apply to a person with a record of impairment. Additionally, the ADA makes it unlawful to discriminate against a person with a disability.
Basic Disability Qualification Benefits
The Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI, program pays benefits to people with disabilities and to certain family members if they were previously insured. The person must have worked long and recently enough and paid Social Security on their earnings.
Meanwhile, Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, program pays benefits to adults and children with limited income and resources. The medical requirements are the same for both programs, but monthly SSI benefits come with pay toward the person’s medical condition if it’s expected to last at least a year. Furthermore, one may qualify for disabled parking stickers in not just their state but in various other states and countries as well.
Conditions to Qualify for Disability
One must meet certain conditions to qualify for disability, and approval takes extensive review. Some conditions that automatically qualify someone for disability include:
- Musculoskeletal system and connective problems: Arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, and reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD)
- Mental disorders: Mood disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), autism or Asperger’s syndrome, and schizophrenia
- Cardiovascular condition and circulatory disorders: Angina, hypertension, and heart diseases
- Cancer
- Nervous system and sense organ conditions: Parkinson’s diseases, hearing loss, epilepsy, and blindness
What To Know About Applying for Disability
The disability application process isn’t complicated. Whether over the phone, online, or in person, start gathering information and documents for the application. Review the official adult disability checklist to collect the information you need. Afterward, submit your application, and it will get reviewed.
Some qualifications that the application reviewers will look for are the essential requirements, your work history, and your current work activities. They will forward the application to the Disability Determination Services in your state, and then the state will decide. Then, you’ll wait to hear back from your state officials. Be on the lookout for a letter in the mail with the decision. If you haven’t heard anything, you can check the status online or through the official Social Security phone number.
