How does age affect Social Security Disability?

Many of you have heard that the older you are the better chance you have of winning Social Security Disability Benefits. This is for the most part true especially if you are over 50 years old. The theory is that older individuals are less likely to be able to make vocational adjustments. This does not apply to those who meet a listing. It comes into play if you don't meet a listed impairment. To understand how age can affect your claim you should have an understanding of the GRID Rules. To know when the GRID Rules come into play you need to know how Social Security determines if you are disabled. Even if you are over 50 years old if you performed a sedentary job in the past 15 years your claim can be as difficult to win as someone who is younger. This is because before you get to the GRID Rules you have to show you can't perform prior work. It is much harder to show you can't do a sedentary job than say a light or medium job. To understand the concept of how age affects your disability claim you should first study my page on how SSA determines if you are disabled and then look at the page on the GRID Rules.