When is a Person Considered Fully Disabled by Social Security?

How to prove you are disabled
and win disability benefits

After you file for disability, your case will be evaluated by a disability examiner, a case processing specialist at an agency known as DDS, or disability determination services.

DDS is a state-level agency that is responsible for making the decision on a disability application, as well as the decision on a reconsideration (the request for reconsideration is the first appeal in the process and it is filed after an initial claim, or disability application, has been denied). Decisions at disability hearings, of course, are made by federally appointed administrative law judges, or ALJs for short.

The social security evaluation process that is conducted by a disability examiner can be quite lengthy and can take several weeks to several months. Typically, most claims at the application level will be decided in under 120 days. The process employed by the disability examiner will involve a review of the claimant's medical evidence and their work history if they are an adult.

If the applicant is a minor-age child (meaning that they would be filing under SSI disability), the evaluation process will still include a review of the medical evidence, but also a review of whatever academic and testing records may exist for the child, including grade reports, IQ testing, and achievement testing.

For either an adult applicant or a child who is filing for disability, the goal of the disability examiner will be decide whether or not the individual, as a result of their condition, has enough functional limitations such that they cannot engage in a normal range of daily activities. More specifically, this will mean for adults the ability to engage in work activity and for children the ability to engage in age-appropriate activities relative to same-age peers.

Being considered fully disabled by social security essentially means the inability to do these things. In the case of adults, the disability criteria can be described in the following detail:

1. The condition must be severe enough that it will render the claimant unable to work and earn a substantial and gainful income. This will include the inability to work at past jobs that are relevant as well as work in other types of employment that utilize one's skills and education.

2. The condition must be severe enough that it lasts a minimum of one full year while imposing functional limitations that prevent work activity.

Satisfying these conditions is required to be considered fully disabled by the social security administration. SSA does not offer the option of qualifying for disability benefits under a partial disability or limited disability option. To meet the social security definition of disability, an individual must be totally disabled and unable to work and their disabling condition must be considered somewhat permanent (approved cases are subject to undergoing disability reviews periodically, though the majority of post-approval case reviews are done every seven years).

Continued at: How is the determination for disability made by the social security administration?