Disability

New Rule Modernizes How We Award Disability Benefits

February 24, 2020 • By

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Last Updated: February 24, 2020

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The Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs protect some of the most vulnerable people in our society. A successful disability program must evolve and support making the right decision as early in the process as possible. To help us do that, we must modernize the rules and standards we use to evaluate how we determine disability benefits. We are moving forward with a rule change that has been in the works for a number of years and serves to update a more than 40-year-old policy that made the inability to communicate in English a factor in awarding disability benefits. The new rule is effective April 27, 2020.

We are required to consider education to determine if your medical condition prevents work. In 2015, our Inspector General recommended that we evaluate the appropriateness of this policy. Research now shows the inability to communicate in English is no longer a good measure of a person’s education level or the ability to engage in work. The new rule also supports the Administration’s longstanding focus of recognizing that individuals with disabilities can remain in the workforce.

To make the right disability decisions, Social Security disability rules must continue to reflect current medicine and evolution of work. We need to update our rules to keep up with society’s changes.

We owe it to the American public to ensure that our disability programs continue to reflect the realities of the modern workplace. Please share this information with your family and friends.

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About the Author

Andrew Saul, Commissioner, Social Security Administration

Commissioner of Social Security Administration (June 17, 2019 - July 9, 2021)

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Comments

  1. Mark E.

    I fell about 40ft out of a tree and landed on a 6ft picket fence and one went thru my left foot and shattered my ankle another one went in the back of my left leg and touched me between my nuts and ass my back so completely gone I can’t sit up for 20 minutes and if I take meds I can walk but not far. But I’m not disabled to you people.well I almost to that point again in my life were it doesn’t mean shit. Thank for all the help not

  2. Charles t.

    Why cant i get my disability im 52 yrs old no insurance cant go to doctor applied for disability and got turned down never even sent me to a doctor my knees is shot bad back and mental problems cant keep a job so now what are you going to help

  3. Kasi V.

    Hi, I am a very concerned citizen about these cases. My husband has been denied for seven years now, his disability is a major concern to me as his wife. My husband worked for over thirty years and he became disabled in 2014-present. We’ve been fighting his cases for the last seven years now, we are very frustrated and this is affecting us physically and emotionally. They’ve never sent my husband to any doctor for evaluation before denying him all the way to the Seventh District Court. I want to know why? I know it’s #1- discriminations #2- waiting til he is on deathbed first or dead first #3- wasting time so that he doesn’t have enough work credits and I make him apply again than SSA does not have to pay him the full benefits. It’s very sad to see that our system is so messed up, why I say that is that all these people out there that lie and cheat the systems get approved for Disability and the ones that bust their butt off working until they can’t work anymore SSA makes it so hard and don’t get it. Please I don’t want to have to take you to the Supreme Court level. Feel free to call me at 414-588-0858

  4. Julie

    I have seizures and take medication and I still have them after I have a seizure my body hurts hurts I mentally cant function I have a job and my boss gets irritated because I cant do things exactly like he says I forget things I have no one to pay my Bill’s anymore my disability is still pending I’m not mentally 100% percent iv hit my head numerous times but what can I do my boss does not know I have seizures I’m afraid I wouldn’t have a job and no one to pay my bills

    • Stacey m.

      You need tell your boss truth where you live at my husband has seizures too they took his license 5 years go he can’t drive nomore I live in padacah ky

  5. Brenda J.

    What is plenty I need to know about Disability Social Security

    • Robert

      Get a lawyer absolutely!

  6. Mary K.

    The thought of ppl being approved for ssi and or disability benefits because they cannot speak our national.language offends me to my deepest respect for our system…

  7. betsy g.

    I was cheated out of my disability because 5 years ago fibromyalgia was not considered. I had it so bad I was on a 100 mgb Fentynal patch with other meds. I was not able to drive on the patch. I feel I should be reconsidered even though I am now 66 years old since so much has come out about fibro. The brain fogs were and are ungodly.

  8. Ashlee

    SS what are you doing? Since when do you award Disability to illegals or those who refuse to learn our language? If we were in their country we would get nada if we don’t speak their native tongue. Anyone who doesn’t speak English is here illegally as they are the only ones who “don’t speak English”. Lets get down to business shall we. Enough is enough with giving Illegals everything free especially SSA and or SSI. They don’t put into the system yet they collect. Americans who didn’t put into the system for many years barely get jack and they cant survive on that yet these who don’t speak English get more then those born and are American not dropped on USA soil as they do. These non-Americans/illegals get money from you, from federal programs, State programs, etc. Money supplied by working Americans who paid into the system for years yet these same tax payers who paid into the system get crap based on how much they were paid over the years which is lower then what Illegals or non-speaking aliens get each month. Real Americans don’t have boatloads of kids while they do so all the money we spent our working lives putting into the system gets to go to them to support their brats not to support those who put money in or to our brats. This is no longer America this is another dumpster for those to come here rape us and kill us while sending home all the money they collect because here everything is paid for so they can afford to send their SSI/SSA/Welfare to their countries of origin. Here is something you should do SSI start requiring those who don’t speak English to have the language mastered and used within 2 years or stop their benefits. Same goes for all agencies who freely give our hard earned money away to those undeserving and have not earned a penny of it. I am sick of getting crap I can’t live on and watching my daughter get even less crap then I do and she can’t, let me repeat, she can’t live on at all and if I help her with even a little I am punished and my crap is lowered as well as hers. This country is screwed up when Americans suffer while those coming here are treated as freaking kings Smh! You don’t give a damn so why do I bother I’m the wrong color and from the wrong country to matter.

    • Margaret

      Ashlee, you seem a little angry over a misunderstanding. When you go before a SS judge, there are factors considered regarding employability, such as availability of jobs you might be able to do & whether you might be considered for the job. Another factor is whether you can perform work without direct supervision; if the answer is ‘no’, you are not employable. Language ability is only one factor of many. Immigrants might have many children compared to us due to lack of advanced healthcare options (birth control, education, accessibility). Livable level of SSI income is not a factor. SSI says make it work for you. Poverty is not a factor. Keeping SSI recipients poor is just a side effect of the rules determining eligibility.

  9. Lesia S.

    So let me get this straight …
    You come to our country and can’t speak our language , you’re considered disabled and we have to pay for it ???? Are you kidding me ??!!
    So what kind of test do they have to give to prove this ??
    Smh ..

  10. Mike M.

    What about the people that are already on SSD and SSI, do the rules change for them or does it stay the same.

Comments are closed.