50 years old or older and Social Security Disability

Many of you have heard that it is difficult to get SSDI or SSI if you are young. This can be true for many cases, and it is also true that if you are 50 years or older you may have a better chance of winning your Social Security disability claim. However, the advantage of being 50 years or older really only comes in to play when the work you have performed in the past 15 years was light or heavier. It also for the most part only helps people in this category if your disabilities are mostly physical in nature. To understand when age is important and why you can visit my page on the grid rules. For those who have claims due to psychiatric conditions, age although it may be considered by some at Social Security, it does not play as much of a factor as it does for someone claiming mostly physical disabilities. Many people with psychiatric disabilities read the five step process for disability and don't really understand how their condition is evaluated at steps four and five since the grid rules only reference physical limitations. If you are trying to get disability based on psychiatric limitations it is important that you know that even if you don't meet or equal a listed impairments at step three of the process you can still be found disabled if you can show the limitations from your psychiatric condition would prevent first your past work then a significant number of any other work. I am writing this post because I received many e-mails from people who read the five step process and understandably don't understand how it applies to someone with a psychiatric condition. Steps four and five can also be confusing if you suffer from both physical and mental conditions, but again if you can show your limitations from these conditions prevent you from being able to perform your prior work or a significant number of any other work you can be found disabled at these steps. I hope this post clears up some questions many of you might have about how age is a much more significant factor for those with physical disabilities then it is for those with mental disabilities. To be very general, if you are under 50 years old, or over 50 years old but had work in the past 15 years that was sedentary, then if you do not meet or equal a listed impairment at step three you will then have to show that your limitations from your conditions would prevent you from even being able to do unskilled sedentary work. If you are 50 years old or older then chances are if your prior work was light or heavier than you would only have to show you are limited to sedentary work to be found disabled. If you have psychiatric medical conditions such as depression and you do not meet or equal the medical listings at step three you will then have to show that the limitations from your psychiatric conditions would prevent almost any type of work in significant numbers. If you suffer from physical and psychiatric impairments and you do not meet or equal listed impairment Social Security will look at all your limitations combined to determine if there is a significant number of jobs you could perform. I try to be very general and not get too technical so that you would have some idea of how an SSDI or SSI claim is decided and how age plays a factor for some in the decision. You should also follow the links in this article which will go into more detail on specific aspects of this article.

Social Security Disability and SSI for those over 50

Many of you have heard that if you are 50 years of age or older your chances of getting Social Security Disability are greater. In general this is true but not absolute. The reason I say this is because before you get to step 5 of the process you have to show you can't do prior work at step 4. Click this link to see Social Security's five step process. If your prior relevant work included sedentary work you will first have to show you can't do that work. On the other hand if you only did heavier than sedentary work it is much easier because if you are found to be limited to sedentary work you go to step 5. Getting to step 5 and an evaluation under the Grid Rules is were being 50 years old or more gives you an advantage over younger claimants. This can be a rather confusing topic and you should follow my links above and read those sections carefully to get a full understanding of what I am talking about.

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.