Social Security Disability - Page 12

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has published a standard for evaluating disability claims based upon intellectual deficiencies (formerly referred to as mental retardation). In all cases of intellectual disability, the person claiming benefits must prove deficits in adaptive functioning which were evident before the age of 22. Deficits in adaptive functioning normally refer to limitations …

The Social Security Administration will not award a claim in which drug or alcohol use is material to the disability. This means that if the claimant would not be disabled were they to stop abusing drugs or alcohol, the claim cannot be awarded. The agency assesses whether the claimant would be disabled in a condition …

When disability applicants complain that they are disabled by their pain, the Social Security Administration has special rules for assessing the problem. Pain complaints are particularly difficult to judge, because there is no meter or objective standard to measure the intensity of pain. Program integrity demands that something more than the applicant’s subjective complaints be …