SSDRC
What is the Application Process for Social Security Disability and SSI?
How do you Win Benefits under Social Security Disability or SSI?
If I am determined disabled, how far back will Social Security pay benefits?
How do you prove your disability case if you have a mental condition?
What Can I Do to Improve My Chances of Winning Disability Benefits
Common Mistakes after Receiving a Denial of Social Security Disability or SSI Benefits
How to File for Disability - Tips for Filing
If You Get Approved For SSDI Will You Also Get Medicare?
How much does a Social Security disability attorney get paid?
Social Security Disability SSI Criteria and the Evaluation Process
How long does it take to be approved for SSI or Social Security disability?
What do you Need to Prove to Qualify for Disability Benefits?
Social Security Disability SSI and Fibromyalgia
Social Security Disability SSI and Degenerative Disc Disease
Can I Qualify For Disability and Receive Benefits based on Depression?
Answers to questions about SSD and SSI disability
What Disabilities Qualify for SSI and Social Security Disability Benefits?
Social Security Disability Status
Social Security Disability Tips — how a claim gets worked on
Social Security Disability, SSI Disability - Terms, Definitions, Concepts
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Will the Medical Rules for Receiving Disability Grant Benefits for Short Term Social Security or SSI?
How to prove you are disabled
and win disability benefits
Technically, no. That's because the social security definition of disability assumes that for a person to receive a social security disability or SSI award, their condition must be long lasting.
It is not written in stone that the condition must be absolutely permanent. And this is evident in the fact that SSA will conduct a review of a claim every few years. The purpose of a disability review, of course, is to A) See if the individual has experienced medical improvement in their condition, be it mental or physical and B) Subsequent to any improvement they may have experienced, check to see if they still meet the qualifications for disability.
However, even though the social security administration assumes that a condition may potentially improve over time, disability benefits are granted under the implicit notion that a person's condition is severe enough that they may, in fact, never return to work activity.
The actual defintition of disability used by SSA makes clear that a person's state of disability must be severe enough that it lasts for one full year. Conditions that are severe enough to satisfy all other facts of the social security definition of disability (meaning that they impose enough physical and mental restrictions that an individual no longer has the ability to work and earn a substantial and gainful income), but do not last a full 12 months time--meaning that they will be considered to have improved--will be be denied on the basis of "duration".
To recap, SSI and SSD benefits cannot be awarded when a disabling condition does not last for at least a full year. Having said this, though, when a case is decided by a social security judge at a disability hearing, it is possible for the judge to award a lump sum payment for what is known as a closed period. A closed period is a less-than-12-month time period in which the person may have been fully disabled according to the rules and regulations of the social security administration.
A closed period cannot be awarded at the first two levels of the disability system and can only be awarded by an Administrative law judge, or ALJ, at a social security hearing. Very few claimants who go to hearings unrepresented, however, will know that such a request can be made and this helps to undescore the value of having social security representation in the form of a disability lawyer or disability representative.
Return to: SSDRC, or the Questions, Answers, Tips, and Advice page
Topics and Questions
Disability Criteria - Eligibility For Social Security and SSI Disability
Will The Condition You have Determine How Much You Get For Disability?
How long does it take to get a social security disability hearing decision?
Getting Your Social Security Disability or SSI Claim Status
Applying for disability benefits in Florida
If Social Security Turns Down My Case Can I apply For Disability A Second Time?
How to File for Disability - Tips from an Insider
If I get disability, will they look at my case later?
To get a Social Security Disability or SSI Award do you have to have a Permanent Disability?
If you have had a heart attack will you qualify for Social Security disability?
How Disabling Does A Condition Have To Be For Social Security, SSDI Benefits?
If You Are Currently Working Are You Eligible To Receive Social Security Disability?
When You Apply For Disability Do You Need To write Down Everything That Is Wrong With You?
Can You Apply For Disability When You Lose Your Job?
Social Security Disability Fee and What a Lawyer is Paid
When Should You File for SSD or SSI Disability?
How Quickly must you file an Appeal if a Disability Claim is Denied?
Application Requirements For Disability - What Do I Need To Start The Claim?
How does Social Security consider lupus as a disability?
Do I automatically receive Medicare benefits if I'm approved for disability benefits?
Inability to Work and Eligibility for Social Security Disability and SSI Benefits
How is the Determination for Disability made by Social Security?
What is the Role of a Social Security Disability Representative?
Will Your Claim for Disability be Handled Differently if it is Based on a Physical or Mental Problem?
Social Security Disability Requirements
How does social security define disability?
Hiring a Qualified Disability Lawyer in Georgia
Appealing A Social Security Disability Denial – How Often Is This Successful?
Are SSDI and SSI Benefits Normally Continued After A Continuing Disability Review?
When a person that has been receiving SSD monthly payments dies, how is the last payment made?
SSD and SSI are Federal Programs
The title II Social Security Disability and title 16 SSI Disability programs operate under federal guidelines and, therefore, the program requirements--medical and non-medical--apply to all states:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
Recent approval and denial statistics for various states can be viewed here:
Social Security Disability, SSI Approval and Denial Statistics by state
Special Section: Disability Lawyers and unnecessary claim denials
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