SSDRC

Filing an Application for Disability Benefits

Social Security Disability List of Impairments

Social Security Disability and SSI Back pay

Social Security Disability Status

SSI Disability Benefits

Social Security Disability and SSI Requirements

Social Security, SSI, and Mental Disability

How Long Does It Take To Get Disability Benefits?

Qualifying: What do you Need to Prove to Qualify for Disability?

Facts about Autism and Filing for Disability

1. Autism is a condition that occurs in early childhood development and inhibits social interaction and communication. It is part of a group of developmental disabilities called autism spectrum disorders (ASD), in which symptoms vary in range and severity.

2. The onset of autism starts in sometimes in infancy and sometimes in early childhood, in the toddler years of two - three.

3. Heightened awareness of autism among people in the United States is largely due to the rapid increase of diagnosis. The increase in numbers may be due to more knowledge, awareness and better detection, an unexplained increase in the condition, or possibly a combination of these factors.

4. Symptoms appear as problems in the three main areas of development, which are social, communication (language), and behavior. While autism varies in severity and each individual can exhibit very different skill levels, all autistic children experience difficulty in each of the three areas.

5. Social impairment may be seen in lack of eye contact, unawareness of others, not recognizing feelings, not responding and appearing not to hear when talked to directly, being withdrawn and not playing with others.

6. Communication and language impairment is exhibited through a delay in talking, abnormal or flat tone and rhythm in speech, inability to start and keep up with conversations, and repeating words and phrases without comprehension.

7. Behavior problems include repetitive movements, development of routines and rituals and difficulty with change in these habits, constant movement, fascination with specific parts of a machine like the wheels moving on a car, and over-sensitivity to sensory input such as light, sound and touch, while seeming to not feel pain.

8. The ability of those with autism can range from severely impaired with low levels of intelligence to high functioning and normal or high intelligence.

9. There are many differing views regarding autism in the United States due to lack of scientific knowledge about the causes of autism, and varying opinions of whether autism is a disability that needs a cure or a difference to be tolerated.

10. One popular belief is that early vaccinations, particularly those with the preservative thimerosal, cause autism. While extensive scientific research has failed to show this connection, many parents still resist vaccinations for their children.

Can you qualify for disability benefits with this condition?

Whether or not you qualify for disability and, as a result, are approved for disability benefits will depend entirely on the information obtained from your medical records. This includes whatever statements may have been obtained from your treating physician (a doctor who has a history of treating your condition and is, therefore, qualified to comment as to your condition and prognosis).

It will also depend on the information obtained from your vocational, or work, history if you are an adult, or academic records if you are a minor-age child. The important thing to keep in mind is that the social security administration does not award benefits based on simply having a condition, but, instead, will base an approval or denial on the extent to which a condition causes functional limitations. Functional limitations can be great enough to make work activity not possible (or, for a child, make it impossible to engage in age-appropriate activities).

Why are so many disability cases lost at the disability application and reconsideration appeal levels?

Speaking as a former Disability Claims Examiner, I can state that there are several reasons:

1) Social Security makes no attempt to obtain a statement from a claimant's treating physician. By contrast, at the hearing level, a claimant and his or her disability attorney will generally obtain and present this type of statement to a judge;

2) Prior to the hearing level, a claimant will not have the opportunity to explain how their condition limits them, nor will their attorney or representative have the opportunity to make a presentation based on the evidence of the case. At the hearing level, of course, this is exactly what happens. And a number of disability representatives will also take such steps even earlier, at the reconsideration appeal level;

3) Disability judges, unlike disability examiners who decides cases at the first two levels of the system, can make independent decisions without being overturned by immediate supervisors--which happens frequently.