According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), an exertional impairment is any type of impairment that limits your mobility. When determining whether or not you have an exertional impairment, the SSA will review whether you can stand up and walk without needing to rest, how long you can sit down without needing to get up, and whether or not you can kneel, climb or bend over. How much, if any, weight you can lift is also considered. If it is found that you suffer from any or a combination of these impairments, it will be determined that you have an exertional impairment.

Under Social Security rules, an exertional impairment will be found if you cannot stand up and walk for at least two hours without experiencing serious discomfort or if you cannot remain seated for at least two hours straight. If you can prove that you cannot perform these tasks, you will be deemed as being severely limited exertionally.

When filing for Social Security Disability benefits you can be approved on the basis of exertional impairments, nonexertional impairments, or a combination of both. In fact, if you are able to combine nonexertional impairments with any exertional impairments that you suffer from, it may increase your chances of being approved for Social Security Disability benefits.

For example, if the SSA finds that you are able to do only light work due to your exertional impairments, but your non-exertional impairments, such as a mood disorder, prevents you from performing such work, you will be more apt to be approved for disability benefits from the SSA.

A Deceased Wage Earner is an individual who has paid into the Social Security system and has passed away. This individual has earned SSA work credits but is no longer around to claim the benefits that he or she may have been entitled to.

In some cases, a surviving member of the family or an estate can receive back benefits that were due to the deceased wage earner before he or she died. For example, it is not uncommon for a Social Security Disability applicant to be denied benefits during the initial stage of the application process. The resulting appeal process can take years to complete. It is possible that the individual who the claim was filed by may die before the appeal is able to successfully overturn the denial of benefits. In such a case, if an appeal is successful, the deceased wage earner’s surviving family members may be entitled to the back pay that the deceased wage earner would have been entitled to.

In some cases a survivor of a deceased wage earner may also be entitled to monthly survivor benefits if he or she was a dependent of a deceased wage earner. In order for a survivor to be entitled to a deceased wage earner’s benefits, the wage earner must have been fully insured when he or she died and must have made a minimum of $2,500 in payments to the Social Security program. Parties who may be eligible for these benefits include spouses and children.

When you apply for Social Security Disability benefits you will be working with a number of individuals. Some of these may include a disability attorney or advocate. You will also be working with a claims representative and an adjudicator.

The claims representative is a federal employee of the Social Security Administration (SSA). This person is responsible for assisting in you applying for Social Security Disability Insurance and/or Supplemental Security Income benefits.

There are two types of childhood disability benefits. One is for children who are under the age of 18 and the other is for the disabled children of workers who have turned 18 years of age.

If a child is under the age of 18 and is determined to be disabled according to Social Security guidelines, he or she may be eligible for SSI benefits. The SSI program is a needs-based program and a family cannot have an income of greater than $1,060 and assets of greater than $3,000 in order to qualify (if applying as a couple). If the financial and disability criteria are met, the disabled child can receive these childhood disability benefits until they reach 18 years of age.

If a child who is disabled reaches 18 years of age they will no longer be eligible for the childhood disability benefits described above. In this case, the child would have to apply for Social Security Disability benefits based on the work credits of his or her parents.

In order to qualify these childhood disability benefits, the child must have become disabled prior to age 22, must be over the age of 18 and must not be married. If the child’s parents do not have a work history or have not earned enough work credits, the child will be unable to qualify for benefits. If, however, the child’s parents do have enough work credits to qualify for SSDI, then the child can receive SSDI benefits under the parents’ work record.

In addition to meeting the work credit eligibility criteria, the child must also meet the SSA’s criteria in terms of a disabling condition. Whether or not a disability is present will be determined according to the rules of the regular Social Security Disability program.

When an individual applies for Social Security Disability benefits it is not uncommon for their initial application to be denied. This results in the need for a disability appeal. The majority of disability appeals are granted during the hearing stage of the disability appeal process. This is when the applicant’s case is heard by an administrative judge. Some applicants, however, are denied during the hearing stage of appeals and must appeal their case further and file a suit in the circuit court of appeals.

A cessation of disability benefits occurs when the SSA decides to stop your Social Security Disability benefits. There are a number of factors that could result in a cessation of disability benefits. These include:

A Determination That You Are No Longer Disabled

If the SSA determines that your condition has improved and that you no longer meet the disability criteria, they can stop your Social Security Disability benefits. This may occur as the result of a continuing eligibility review or because you have participated in the Ticket to Work program and are no longer eligible to receive disability benefits due to your income.

Reaching Retirement Age

When you reach retirement age you will no longer receive Social Security Disability benefits. The benefits you are receiving will be rolled over into retirement benefits. You will still be receiving monthly benefits from the SSA, but they will no longer be considered disability benefits.

Becoming Incarcerated

If you become incarcerated or institutionalized for a period of more than 30 days your Social Security Disability benefits may be stopped. If this happens, your benefits will only stop for the amount of time that you are incarcerated. In some cases, however, a felony conviction will result in a permanent cessation of Social Security Disability benefits.

Exceeding Income and Asset Requirements

If you receive SSI and go over the income and asset requirements that are set forth by the program, you will no longer be eligible for SSI benefits and your benefits will cease.

Turning Age 18

If you are a minor who is receiving SSI benefits, those benefits may stop when you reach 18 years of age. Your benefits will not automatically stop, but you will have to go through a process to determine whether or not you are entitled to continue receiving benefits.

When you are applying for Social Security disability benefits, it’s important to give yourself every advantage that you can. More than two thirds of all applications are initially denied. Most applicants will need to go through the appeals process before their claim is approved and you don’t want to prolong the process any more than necessary.

When deciding whether or not to approve your claim, the Social Security Administration takes all medically verifiable conditions into account which could have an effect on your ability to find and keep gainful employments. If they determine that you are capable of performing any kind of available work for which you are qualified, they will deny your claim. Because of this, it’s important to make sure that you list every condition, physical or mental, which you have been diagnosed with which could in any way affect you in the workplace.

A healthy percentage of the applications which are approved for Social Security disability benefits are approved completely or in part because of medically verifiable mental conditions. Don’t try to make a judgment as whether or not a condition will be vital to your being approved for benefits. Just report all medical conditions you have!

The SSA may determine that the main disability you are struggling with, in and of itself, does not qualify you as being completely disabled. However, if you have more than one disabling condition, the SSA’s adjudicators can judge that the sum of your disabilities is severe enough to qualify you as completely disabled even though none of your disabling conditions would qualify you for benefits by themselves.

How does a mental illness affect your ability to work

When listing mental conditions, it’s important to have medical and/or psychological documentation that backs up your diagnosis. It is even more helpful if the documentation is geared in such a way as to address the effects of your condition on your ability to keep or hold down a job. Typical effects of mental conditions on a person’s ability to keep meaningful employment include:

• Difficulty getting along with co-workers
• Difficulty responding appropriately to authority
• Difficulty concentrating on tasks at hand
• Potential harm to self or others due to thoughts or emotions which are hard to control
• Inability to perform due to severe depression
• Loss of memory
• Loss of cognitive functioning
• Loss of ability to motor skills due to psychological conditions

When reporting your mental conditions, it’s also important to report what manner of treatment you are undergoing and to be able to say that you are being compliant with your doctor or psychologist’s recommendations. In the case of most mental conditions, you will need to be able to show that you are following your mental health care professional’s treatments prescribed and that the condition still has a negative impact on your ability to work full time.

Hiring a disability attorney or advocate

Applicants with mental disabilities often find it especially helpful to have the help of a Social Security disability lawyer when applying for disability benefits. Your Social Security disability lawyer can help ensure that your doctors and mental health professionals describe any mental conditions you have in a way which will best help with your disability claim by making sure they detail the actual effects the conditions have on your daily activities and ability to work.

Click here for a free evaluation of your claim.

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