An office of the state in which you reside determines whether you are "disabled." The office is generally referred to as DDS.

The rules for determining disability are different from the disability rules in other government and private programs. However, a decision made by another agency and the medical reports it obtains may be considered in determining whether you are disabled under Social Security rules.

Each DDS office asks five questions in the following order:

• Are you working?  
• Is there a medical problem that impacts your ability to work to any degree?
• Is your condition found in the list of disabling impairments?
• Can you do the work you did previously?
• Is there another type of work that you can do? 

There are special rules for Blindness. 

You are considered blind under Social Security rules if your vision cannot be corrected to better than 20/200 in your better eye, or if your visual field is 20 degrees or less, even with a corrective lens.

There are a number of special rules for people who are blind. The rules recognize the severe impact of blindness on the ability to work. For example, the earnings limit for people who are blind is generally higher than for people who are not blind. 

For more information about special rules for people who are blind, get a copy of the Social Security leaflet, If You Are Blind...How We Can Help (Publication No. 05-10052) . It is available at: www.ssa.gov/pubs/10052.pdf .

If you are working, and your earnings are more than what Social Security refers to as the "Substantial Gainful Activity Amount" or "SGA" you are not considered to be disabled and your claim will be denied. For 2016, the SGA is $1,130.  For people who are blind, the SGA is $1820. 

While you may qualify if you have earned income which is below the dollar amount, the definition of disability still calls for you to be "totally" disabled. Since you are working, Social Security will look at your claim with a presumption that you are not totally disabled. It is possible to overcome the presumption, but experience indicates that overcoming the presumption is not easy because you are still working.

If you are not working at all, the evaluator moves to the next question. 

You must have a medical condition, either physical or mental (or a combination of the two), that interferes with basic work-related activities.

DDS will consider all the medical facts in your case. The DDS office will use the medical records from your doctors and from hospitals, clinics, or institutions where you have been treated and all the other information they have.

On the medical report forms, your doctors or other sources are asked for a medical history of your condition, including:

• What is wrong with you.
• When it began.
• How it limits your activities.
• What the medical tests have shown.
• What treatment you have received.
• What is the prognosis.
• What is your ability to do work-related activities, such as walking, sitting, lifting, and carrying.

Your doctors are not asked for an opinion about whether you are disabled. You can obtain a copy online of the form Social Security uses to gather facts about your disability. Known as an Adult Disability Report, the form can be downloaded from: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps6z/i3369/ee001-fe.jsp

If DDS requires more medical information, you may be asked to take a special examination called a Consultative Examination. Social Security will pay for the examination and for certain travel expenses related to it. For more about this examination, including the possibility of using your own doctor to do it, see Consultative Examination.

The evaluator will use the medical records from your doctors and from hospitals, clinics, or institutions where you have been treated and all the other information they have.

See The Timetable Of An SSI Application for information on the steps to take to give yourself the best chance for having your claim approved in the shortest period of time.

It is worth noting that Social Security District Offices use POMS (Program Operation Manual Systems) to interpret and apply Social Security rules and regulations about disabling conditions. You can see a copy at www.ssa.gov or you can order a CD-Rom version from the U.S. Government Printing Office for a fee. See: www.gpo.gov/

If you don't have an appropriate medical condition, your claim is denied. If you do, the evaluator will go to the next step.

Social Security maintains a list of impairments for each of the major body systems that are so severe they mean you are automatically considered to be disabled. 

The List of Impairments can be found at www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/404/404-ap09.htm . A diagnosis alone cannot be considered to fulfill the guidelines of the Listing solely because it has the same name as a listed impairment. To be considered a listed impairment, it must have the symptoms, clinical signs, and laboratory findings specified in the Listing.

If your condition is not on the list, the evaluator next decides whether your condition is equal to a listed impairment. For example, you may think that a diagnosis of cancer is serious enough to qualify as a disabling impairment. However, there are many degrees and levels of severity to cancer. The listings under "Neoplastic Diseases - Malignant" take up several pages to describe the specific types and severity of different cancers that automatically qualify someone for disability benefits.

If your condition is on the list or deemed to be equal to the severity of one of the listings, you will be determined to be disabled. If your condition is not as severe, the evaluator will move on to the next question. 

 Since the answer to Question 3 determined that your condition was not as severe as a listed impairment, the next step is to match your condition to your ability to work. This question looks at whether you are able to do the work you did previously. 

If you can, your claim will be denied.  If you can't, the evaluator goes to the next, and last, question. 

If you cannot do the work you did in the past, the evaluator looks to see if you are able to adjust to other work. The evaluator considers your:

• Medical condition
• Age
• Education
• Past work experience
• Transferable skills

If it is determined that you cannot adjust to another kind of work, your claim will be approved. If your claim is approved, the letter will explain why, when your benefits begin, and how much your benefit will be.

If your claim will be denied, where you live determines what happens next.

If you live in:

• Alabama
• Alaska
• California (Los Angeles area)
• Colorado
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Missouri
• New Hampshire
• New York (Albany and Brooklyn areas)
• Pennsylvania

You will be contacted by a representative before your claim is denied through a new procedure known as Disability Redesign Prototype. To learn more, see: Disability Redesign Prototype.

If you are a resident of any other area, if you are turned down, you will receive a letter notifying you of the decision and informing you of the appeal procedure and the date by which you must appeal. The appeal is known as Reconsideration. To learn more, see Reconsideration.