Medical Aspects of Disability

Neither the Social Security Administration (SSA) nor the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) offers an exhaustive list of which impairments are defined as disabilities. Government agencies may investigate whether a condition is a disability through specific medical documentation from certified physicians.

Considerations

• The SSA defines disability as an inability to perform a substantial or gainful activity due to a physical or mental impairment. The impairment must eventually lead to death or last at least 12 months. Under the SSA's definition, a disability results from a physiological, anatomical or psychological impairment that may be shown through clinical diagnoses. The individual's personal statement of the condition must be substantiated by laboratory findings or professional diagnoses based upon his symptoms.

Types

• According to the EEOC, a physical or mental disability is a physiological condition that causes cosmetic disfigurement, anatomical loss, neurological or musculoskeletal loss or organ or tissue degeneration.

Warning

• Certain conditions, including homosexuality, lack of formal education and criminal prison records, are not federally recognized as medical impairments. Although severe obesity may be considered a disability, the accepted medical definition of obesity is a person whose body weight is at least double that of a normal-sized individual.