Which Disabilities Qualify for Disability Insurance?

The Social Security Administration (SSA) provides disability insurance to individuals who have a significant work history but become unable to perform gainful employment. SSA also provides Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to individuals who do not have enough of a work history to qualify for full disability insurance. An individual must meet specific criteria in order to obtain SSI or SSDI based on disability.

Blind

• If you are legally blind, you automatically qualify for SSDI or SSI payments as long as your work income does not exceed $1,640 per month in 2010. Legally blind is defined as having vision that cannot be corrected to better than 20/200 in your better eye or if your visual field is 20 degrees or less in your better eye.

End Stage Renal Disease

• If you are unable to work due to end-stage kidney failure that require ongoing dialysis, you automatically qualify for SSDI and/or SSI payments. You must complete SSA form CMS 2728-U3 "End Stage Renal Disease Medical Evidence Report Medicare Entitlement and/or Patient Registration," which you can download from the SSA website, to receive payments.

Emergency Conditions

• You may receive SSDI and/or SSI payments immediately for up to six months even if a decision has not been made on your disability case if you have one of the following conditions: amputation of a leg at the hip; total deafness; total blindness; bed confinement or immobility without a wheelchair, walker or crutches due to a longstanding medical condition; cerebral palsy; muscular dystrophy; muscular atrophy; Down syndrome; severe mental deficiency; Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection; a stroke three months prior with continued marked difficulty in walking or using a hand or arm; inability to walk without use of a walker or other assistive device for more than two weeks following a spinal cord injury; Lou Gehrig's disease; or a terminal illness with a life expectancy of 6 months or less.

Other Medical Conditions

• SSA maintains a list of conditions that are considered severe enough to cause disability. For conditions other than those listed above, SSA must determine that you are unable to perform gainful employment (employment with earnings of $980 or more per month) due to your disability through a disability review process.