Most people feel that filing for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits is extremely difficult – and not without reason. The process seems convoluted, the amount of evidence you need in support of a claim is significant and the rules that determine whether or not a claim is approved are hard to understand.
However, once you reach 50 years of age, the entire process gets a bit easier. While the definition of what it means to be “disabled” under the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) rules doesn’t change, the rules used to evaluate your claim do.
The “grid rules” that factor into the decision
SSA uses a set of guidelines known as the medical-vocational rules – or “grid rules” – to evaluate all disability claims. These rules take into account several different factors:
- Your age
- Your education
- Your past work experience
- Whether or not your job skills are transferable
- Your ability to perform other kinds of work
Once you turn 50, you are considered “closely approaching advanced age” (and you will be considered to be of “advanced” age once you turn 55). At that point, the agency relaxes its expectation that you can simply be retrained to a new kind of work. In comparison, younger workers are expected to adapt and adjust.
No matter what your age, SSA will still evaluate your residual functional capacity, or what you are still able to do physically and mentally, despite your condition. However, the impact of those limitations is viewed differently in light of your age. A restriction that might not qualify a 35-year-old for SSDI could be viewed very differently for someone who is 55.
For example, imagine a warehouse worker with a back injury that stops them from doing their job. A 35-year-old might be expected to transition to sedentary work and get a desk job somewhere or do customer service. At 55, however, if the worker doesn’t already have the necessary skills to do an office job or customer service work, SSA may decide that transitioning to sedentary work is not realistic.
No matter what your age, it is far easier to get an SSDI application approved with the help of an experienced attorney. An attorney can make sure that your information is clear and complete – and presented in a way that is most favorable to your case.