“I can’t get even get a job interview! Why doesn’t that qualify me as disabled?”
Unfortunately, we hear this a lot, and we understand the frustration behind it.
First, we are going to look at the factors the Social Security Administration (SSA) takes into account when ruling on a claim of disability. Then, we are going to look at the next steps we can take if you are currently in this position.
What is Social Security’s Definition of Disabled?
For the SSA, you are considered disabled if you can’t perform any job earning the minimum monthly amount ($1,690 before taxes in 2026), because you have a severe physical or mental impairment.
In other words, you are disabled if you have a medical condition that leaves you without the ability to work and earn a living.
The condition must be documented by medical evidence and expected to last for at least 12 continuous months or result in death.
So, you must have proof of your medical condition (X ray, MRI, blood tests), and your doctor has to diagnose the medical condition and show how it affects you or if it is expected to end in death.
How Does the SSA Decide if I Can Earn a Living or Not?
Because this is a legal medical decision, the SSA has to have objective rules and clear definitions they use to decide every case.
With extremely detailed, dizzyingly complex rules and guidelines, the SSA examines your:
- Medical condition (physical and mental)
- Work history
- Age
- Education, training, and skill set
- Physical and mental abilities and limitations
The SSA assess and evaluates the maximum you can do in a work setting on a regular, ongoing basis (typically 8 hours a day, 5 days a week).
If they conclude that you can’t do work you have done before, then they see if you could adapt to any other job that exists in the national economy.
Pros To This Process
- All of the medical diagnoses, evidence, and testing has been standardized for every impairment, so every person who files for disability is measured against the same scale created for their condition.
Cons To This Process
- Since the SSA is a federal program, its goal is to decide whether or not a person seeking benefits could do a job they have done before or adapt to any other job in the U.S.
That means that one factor that isn’t considered in disability claims is your location. If you are living in a rural town of 400 people there will not be as many open jobs as if you were living in a large metropolitan area. - The SSA is only concerned with whether or not a person is capable of doing the job if hired.
That means it does not interest the SSA if anyone will actually hire that person.
For example, a person may have trouble getting hired because of:
- Age
- Lack of education
- Lack of recent work experience
- A criminal record
- Transportation problems
- Medication side effects
- Employers not wanting to take a chance
- Being out of work for many years
These things may make finding a job very hard. But they do not prove disability under Social Security’s rules.
So, What Are The Next Steps If I Am In This Position?
Focus on the types of issues that matter most in a disability case: your medical limitations, age, education and training, your symptoms, the side effects caused by your medications, and then examine how those issues would affect your ability to work every day.
What Actually Helps a Disability Claim?
The strongest evidence usually focuses on what a person cannot do on a regular work schedule.
For example:
- How long can you sit, stand, or walk?
- How much can you lift and carry?
- How often would you miss work?
- How often would you be off task?
- Do you need extra breaks?
- Can you use your hands throughout the day?
- Can you stay focused?
- Can you get along with supervisors, coworkers, or the public?
- Would medication side effects interfere with work?
And your word on these issues is not enough by itself. These limitations need to be noted by your doctors and backed up with medical evidence.
The Bottom Line
‘No one will hire me’ is not the same as ‘I am disabled’ under Social Security’s rules.
The purpose of Social Security is to evaluate your disability claim and see if you can perform any job that exists in the national economy. It is not concerned about whether an employer would actually hire you.
That is why it is so important to focus on your medical limitations, your symptoms, the side effects caused by your medications, and how those issues would affect your ability to work every day.
At Disability Advocates, everything we do is focused on one goal: helping our clients get approved as efficiently and quickly as possible while protecting their claims every step of the way.