If You Have a Disability, Social Security Can Help
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: October 8, 2015
October is Disability Awareness Month. For Social Security, disability is always at the forefront of our conversations. We hear stories daily about Americans living with disabling conditions who need help from the system they contributed to during their working life. Their stories make us proud of the work we do.
Through our Faces and Facts of Disability website, we share the stories about what it means to receive disability benefits from Social Security. The site highlights some of the people who benefit from our programs. We believe that learning the facts and hearing peoples’ stories about disability allows for a better understanding of what’s perhaps the most misunderstood Social Security program.
The Social Security Act sets a very strict definition of disability. Social Security pays benefits to insured people who can’t work because they have a medical condition that is expected to last at least one year or result in death. The impairment must be so severe that it renders the person unable to perform not only his or her previous work, but also any other substantial work.
Social Security doesn’t provide temporary or partial disability benefits. Because the eligibility requirements are so strict, our disability beneficiaries are among the most severely impaired people in the country. Our new online resources, the state disability fact sheets and our national disability issue paper, provide specific information about our recipients’ demographics by state and congressional district. These resources are proof of Social Security’s economic impact and benefit to our most vulnerable citizens.
Disability is something we don’t like to think about, or we may think it can’t happen to us. But the odds of becoming disabled are greater than we realize. The Social Security disability program excels in providing services to people when they need it the most.
For us, disability has faces and names — among them Larry, Kiera, Ebbie, Charlotte, Jamie, and Christine. We want to invite you to come see their faces, and learn the facts. They are truly at the heart of what we do.
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Tags: Disability, SSA
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Jim Borland, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Communications
Jim Borland, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Communications
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Angie
I have had surgery on left knee, acl replacement and mcl put back together; right knee acl (living without it) lcl grade b laxity. I have bursitis in both knees. Somedays I can stand for a couple of hours, and somedays I cannot. It depends on if I did too much or stepped wrong and agitate one of my knees. I do not have a college degee, I can type and do main office work, I have been told by OVR that it’s almost impossible for me to get an office job because there are just too many college degrees. Also, No one seems to want to hire me knowing I have a disability. I am a good person and one of the best people to have working for you and yet I have a seasonal job that only requires shorts stints on my feet. The reason I have this is because I have known the employer for a long time and I am very good at what I am doing. But I have to keep returning to Alaska in order to do the job, it’s expensive, and leaves me living with family. I feel so down sometimes, it’s embarrassing that I can’t make it on my own.
severiano C.
I presently have a disability rating with social security. five months ago I had knee replacement surgery. Am I entitled to a higher rating?
R.F.
Thank you for your question, Severiano. We do not base your Social Security benefit amount on the severity of your disability. We base it on your average lifetime earnings before your disability began.
Disability payments are established at the highest rate possible, and we used the highest years of your earnings to calculate your monthly benefit amount. We hope this information helps!
Paula
I need help please. I am disabled and I keep getting worse as time goes on. My husband passed away on Feb 5. 2016. He was the main income source and I then could make the house payments, food, etc. Now I am losing my home which has all my retirement built up in it. I only get 1640 a mo with my husbands SS and mine. To try and eat, pay utility bills, phone, ins. etc. it just isn’t enough. I can’t lose my home please where will I go I looked into places for I can’t even afford a retirement place in the bad part of town the lowest is 800 mo. and that is in a very bad area. Then I would have to move away from my children. so what can I do. My mom when she cooks she will bring left overs I make that food last 3 days so I know I am not getting the nutrition I really need, I don’t get out of the house because gas cost money, I can’t do anything for I am 3000K a month in the hole. so my house is 3 mo past due I have messed my cr. up by borrowing thinking maybe I could sell the house but lighting Struck my home and the foundation is bad now and the ins. co is refusing to pay the claim. I don’t know where to turn and I have never in my life asked the gov. for help ever. Not something I want to do. But if I don’t I am about to be living on the street. Help please is there any program that can help me to keep the my home, etc.? Thank You
R.F.
We are sorry to hear of the inconveniences you are experiencing, Paula. In your situation, and to see if you are eligible to receive social services or other benefits from the state in which you live, contact your local social services office. Or you can visit the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services web page for assistance.
Renee C.
can I get disability, if I was a housewife most of my life and I did not get a pay check ? when im married still and my husband makes ,he says about $50 thousand a year ? and never gives me money for anything always saying hes broke, and I suffer, even getting my cell phone cut off every other month. I have about 10 diagnosis’s in my neck and back with mri’s that show all 3 parts of my back are in bad shape, and I have been seeing a pain management specialist for 6 years now being prescribed very strong pain medication, and the Dr’s tell me I al an exception to the rule because I can only get 3 surgeries with 10 to 14 diagnosis’s after just the 3 surgeries, they have no surgeries to help all the other pain diagnosis’s that only get worse as time months and years go by. and that I will always have to be on pain medication, and with the statistics and me having all the oher back problems, Dr’s are telling me DO NOT GET BACK SURGERY, !!!!! So are others that have had back surgeries that I almost had that are now in worse condition then before their surgery or surgeries. There I not 1 person I have spoke to that has had a positive result from any of the 3 types of surgeries that I would be able to have, but like the Dr said even after those surgeries and you taking such a high risk of being worse off or the same, with all my other diagnosis’s in my back and 1 in my neck, I will always be on pain medication and that I was an exception , and a time goes by I will get worse with pain. So after being married almost 30 years divorced for 4 of those 30 years, re married about 14 years, and my husband lying to me about money and not helping me the way he should can I get disability ? PLEASE WILL SOMEONE HELP ME ? I AM EMBARRASSED I AM HUMILATED, HE KNOWS I AM IN SUCH A VURNURABLE SITUATION THAT WILL ONLY GET WORSE IN TIME AND HE IS ABUSIVE MENTALLY TOWARDS ME , HE HAS BEEN PHYSICALLY ABUSIVE A FEW TIMES IN THOSE ALMOST 30 YEARS OF MARRIAGE, I HAD HIM ARRESTED TWICE AND THEN HE NEVER PHYSCIALLY TOUVHED ME AGAIN IN HARMS WAY, UNTIL RECENTLY, HE HAS PUSHED ME, OR ACTED LIKE HE WAS GOING TO HIT ME, HE KNOWS MY BODY IS WEAK AND I HAVE NO WHERE TO GO ..THE SAD THING IS I STILL LOVE HIM VERY MUCH, HE IS MY HUSBAND , he runs around on me he ralks about me to people outside our home telling lies about me, he used to tell people I was crazy, then when I proved I was not crazy and he was the bi polar crazy one, when I started having to take pain medication . now he tells people outside our home that his wife is a drug addict, it breaks my hear and its wrong !! I am not a drug addict. I am a woman that is 55 years old with many many horrible diagnosis’s in my neck and back and in pain all the time, and in bed 80 to 85 % of my life because of how bad my pain is. Can someone, be my angel ? Can someone answer my questions and help me get disability ? Im sorry, for asking for help, I am so embarrassed how bad I look describing my own husband like this but I need some advice and some help really really bad. I live in Nashville Tn. My e mail is reneecox111@aol.com. because I might forget this web site so I give my email. God Bless you if you can help me !!!
Delores M.
I have anther question I receive disability already and I work.because that’s the only way I can keep my bills up.that’s why I ask that question about.my benefits going up.I hate not working.but don’t look like I have a choice.
Delores M.
I have been working ten years.I was recently told.that I would have to be put on totally disability.so would I receive more money
Gina s.
Hello I need help in updating my bank account deposit
but every time I call the SS it said I have to wait for 30 minutes actually to speak to a representative that is really
a long time to wait. There has to be another way to get this done
R.F.
Hi Gina. If you already receive benefits (retirement, survivors, or disability) and you have a bank account, you can start or update your direct deposit by using your personal my Social Security account. This service is not currently available for people who receive SSI or do not have a U.S. mailing address. Thanks!
james e.
I went through sergory a month ago and the doctors told me I cant work. and I cant support myself and cant work what can I do
R.F.
Thank you for your question, James. We pay disability benefits to people who are unable to work because of a medical condition that is expected to last one year or more or to end in death. No benefits are payable for partial disability or short-term disability. To learn more about the process we use to decide if you are disabled under our rules, visit our Disability Planner: How We Decide If You Are Disabled. Thanks!
Judith b.
What if you are disabled with frontal temporal dementia and you don’t have enough credits to qualify for social security disability, married for 38 years and your husband has abandoned you. Presently living with 75 year old mother. I am the mother.
R.F.
Hi Judith. We pay disability benefits through two programs: the Social Security Disability Insurance program (SSDI) and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. To qualify for SSDI benefits, you must have worked long enough and recently enough in jobs covered by Social Security. The (SSI) program is a needs based program that gives cash assistance to disabled individuals with limited income and resources.
We pay disability benefits to people who are unable to work because of a medical condition that is expected to last one year or more or to end in death. However, if a person thinks that he or she meets our definition of disability, we encourage them to apply for disability benefits when they become disabled. Your daughter can call our toll free number at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) for further assistance. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Polygamist D.
What about doing more Blogs and Pictures and Topics about Sister Wives?
https://seeking-polygamy.blogspot.com/2017/06/sister-wives-tv-show-has-dating-website.html