Disability

You Can Help Us Enhance Our Disability Process

March 24, 2016 • By

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Last Updated: March 24, 2016

a graphic that shows Save the Date for the National Disability Forum on March 30, 2016

As a part of our commitment to bring you world-class services, Social Security is looking for ways to improve how we develop and evaluate medical evidence relating to severe limitations in attention, concentration, and persistence. The Social Security Act sets out a strict definition of disability. Our agency pays benefits to eligible people who can’t work because of a disabling mental or physical condition expected to last at least one year or result in death. This medical condition must prevent the person from doing not only their previous work, but also any other substantial work in the national economy.

Gathering and assessing medical evidence is a key part of how we make our decisions. On Wednesday, March 30, we will host our next National Disability Forum, Developing and Assessing Medical Evidence for Extreme Limitations in the Ability to Focus on Tasks.

The discussion will focus on the level of severity at which impairment-related limitations in attention, concentration, and persistence can prevent people from working.  For example, at what point does the inability to focus cause enough ‘off task’ behavior that someone would be unable to do any job in the national economy? What are employer expectations around productivity and reasonable accommodations for affected people? Are there standard tests for assessing and evaluating these ailments, and who should be consulted to evaluate a person’s capacity to focus on job-related tasks?

Your input will help us further enhance our disability determination process. You can share your ideas about how our disability determination process can better serve individuals with extreme limitations in attention, concentration, and persistence on our IdeaScale page or by commenting below.

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About the Author

Gina Clemons, Associate Commissioner, Office of Disability Policy

Gina Clemons, Associate Commissioner, Office of Disability Policy

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Comments

  1. andrea p.

    This is an informative blog

  2. D. T.

    Thank you for posting this.

  3. Shaw

    Neuropsychologists such as Sheila Bastien, PhD, specialize in functional evaluations of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients and their ability to focus on tasks. In spite of the resulting detailed report and SSR 14-1p: Titles II and XVI: Evaluating Cases Involving Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Effective Date: April 3, 2014, https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/rulings/di/01/SSR2014-01-di-01.html – the SSA has utterly failed ME/CFS patients in particular.

  4. Shaw

    Other limitations: examples include Post-exertional malaise (PEM), also known as Post-exertional neuroimmune exhaustion (PENE), a core, disabling symptom in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. See the February 2015 Institute of Medicine Report, Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness. http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2015/MECFS/MECFS_ReportBrief.pdf. For more information visit http://www.iom.edu/MECFS

    Social Security is utterly failing ME/CFS patients in spite of SSR 14-1p: Titles II and XVI: Evaluating Cases Involving Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Effective Date: April 3, 2014, https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/rulings/di/01/SSR2014-01-di-01.html.

  5. Jennie

    Social Security Horror Story–Still Denied—My husband has been disabled and unable to work since 2009. He worked hard, paid into Social Security ever week. My oldest son was 10 and two other younger daughters at the time. My children have had to grow up so poor. This breaks my heart so bad. I am just the mom and we don’t make as much as men. God knows I tried and scrubbed toilets til 2 am, but that doesn’t cut it anymore. My husband had the higher paying job before he was disabled. My jobs were sporadic and didn’t pay well. God’s grace took care of us every day we are alive. Social Security is a lie and they take money from my pay check, but they won’t even do the right thing for my family. My oldest son is graduating in a few weeks. It is a bitter pill that the government lied to us and took money that should be for our kids and they never got it. My son will never ever get those years back. I depended on my son every day just to make it. Yes, I depended on a 10 year old boy because who else was I supposed to turn to when my husband can’t even dress or bathe himself? Social Security didn’t care if all 5 of us froze in Winter or died of heat in Summer. Now that boy is grown and all these years they keep taking money and taking money and denying and denying. LIARS LIARS LIARS that is all they are. My daughters are 16 and 13. I have no doubt that my childrens entire life will have been spent in destitution because Social Security is a lie. That would be one thing, but the WORST is I get paid every week and you know who is taking a share of that money.??? Social Security. 🙁

    • DisabledSupporter

      Jennie, you are 100% correct. SSA needs to remember they work for us, not the other way around. You paid your premiums and look where it got you. I hope you never stop fighting them and I’m praying you defeat the SSA one day very soon. The people who treated you this badly should be appalled and terminated, knowing the inner workings of the SSA, they probably threw a party at how they treated you and your family and the results from it.

  6. Peter A.

    I came to my SSA (SSDI) benefits through an unconventional process showing me that the agency is run by real people and not simply by rigid rules and regulations. I can only hope that those on the front lines in the SSA offices across the country continue to have the freedom and flexibility to make decisions based on the circumstances presented them. I also hope that unscrupulous lawyers in the pockets of unscrupulous judges making determinations that profit each other for profit will be diminished for the sake of every American citizen’s pocketbook.

    • tony

      You don’t hear the claimants who got approved that way complaining.

  7. Felix M.

    Hey. All the SSI or SSD is blowing smoke. As long as they get over 100 thousand a year for pay they can put anything in front of old people and they will believe it. Don’t believe everything someone tells you. Hope you have a great day ???

    • tony

      This blog states, “You can share your ideas about how our disability determination process can better serve individuals with extreme limitations in attention, concentration, and persistence on our IdeaScale page or by commenting below.”

      All they got were complaints. At least I gave some ideas.

      • May

        Your ideas were on how easy it was for you to get benefits without the doctors diagnosis or a history of medications for a serious illness. I don’t think you have helped anything except to prove how effed up this system is for the people who really have a disability.

        • Marisa

          There is nothing they can do other than to turn away from their unjust practicing and start opperating in good faith and in truth. This they do not do.

  8. Linda M.

    Ms. Clemons, I am an attorney practicing before the SSA, and wanted to commend you all on your great improvements in the online appeal process. I especially like that I can now upload my 1696, 827, etc., while submitting the appeal. I believe that this will decrease duplication of forms sent to the district offices immensely!

    Would you consider similarly streamlining the online initial application process? Currently, my practice is to submit my clients’ IA online, and then mail the cover sheet with signed paper forms SSA-16-BK and 8001 if necessary, and their other forms to our district office. It would be a lot easier for your insurance specialists if we could submit all of those forms online during the application process.

    Thanks for all of your hard work!

    • tony

      Have you tried business service online?
      https://www.ssa.gov/bso/bsowelcome.htm

      • Linda M.

        Thanks Tony. Yes, I use BSO to send in my clients’ medical records. What I was asking if the SSA would consider making the same changes allowing uploading files to the online application process as they did to the appeal process. They did a great job!

  9. Gloria

    When an individual is awarded a compassionate allowance for disability for terminal cancer, there should NEVER be a two-year waiting period for Medicare. A family member has terminal pancreatic cancer and was completely unable to work at time of filing and was also advised to contact a Hospice care. No job, NO health insurance, and the way the system is now, NO Medicare for two years. This is unbelievable and so wrong. Medicare should be awarded along with disability of this sort as an automatic pay the same as with Dialysis. This person needs insurance coverage more than ever, but is denied Medicare because regs are not updated etc., to include the compassionate allowance category. Please do something about this; get this corrected to assist these terminal beneficiaries.

    • tony

      This is the ssa.gov.. You need to go to medicare.gov and complain over there. They can’t do nothing over there either. They can’t change the law. Complain to your Congressman.

  10. tony

    The test should also include index cards with numbers or letters of the alphabet. They would put these index card in alphabetical order or number starting from one. Index cards are mention in 12.00 Mental Disorder under concentration, persistence, and pace.

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