- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Back and joint pain
- Blindness
- Cancer
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Crohn’s disease
- Diabetes
- Emphysema
- Epilepsy
- Hearing loss
- Heart disease
- Hepatitis C
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Liver and kidney disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Neurological deficits
- Obesity
- Anxiety
- Chronic fatigue
- Chronic pain
- Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
- Depression
- Fibromyalgia
- Lupus
- Migraine headaches
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD)
- Standing for long periods
- Sitting for long periods,
- Walking for reasonable distances
- Reaching and grabbing things
- Lifting and carrying things
- Concentrating for sustained periods
- Understanding and following directions
- Your medical records and treatment history
- What you’ve told your doctors about your symptoms
- Clinical notes and observations from your providers
- Medications and any side effects
- How often your symptoms happen, how long they last, and how severe they are
- Reports from family, friends, supervisors, co-workers and others who have witnessed your health struggles
- What activities you’re limited in doing, including chores, running errands, and taking care of yourself
- Basic physical and mental functioning, such as how long you can sit, stand, walk or concentrate
- Whether you can keep a normal work schedule. Maybe your symptoms make you unreliable day-to-day. Or you need to rest and lie down during the day because of pain, fatigue or other symptoms.
How to Qualify for Social Security Disability with Your Health Problems
You look at Social Security Disability benefits when you run into health problems and can’t keep up at work. Financial assistance would be such a relief.
One of the first questions you, and many others, ask is whether your medical condition qualifies for disability benefits.
Social Security doesn’t view “disability” the same way you, other people you know, or even doctors, view it. For Social Security, a disability is any health condition (or combination of health conditions) that makes it impossible for you to work.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) does provide a guide, often called its “blue book” listing of impairments, for how to qualify for disability benefits for over 100 medical conditions.
It spells out the symptoms Social Security considers to be disabling and the medical evidence you need to prove your health issues are severe enough for benefits.
The impairments listing is a place to start, but the health problems that can qualify for disability benefits aren’t limited to what’s on the list. If your diagnosis isn’t there, another path to benefits is documenting how your individual symptoms interfere with your ability to work.
The Arizona disability lawyers at Slepian Ellexson have seen just about any health problem you can think of as we’ve helped thousands of people win disability benefits. We know how to tie your medical records to your work history to show Social Security that you deserve economic aid to stabilize your life.
See below for a list of just some of the medical conditions we’ve helped people claim in their applications for disability benefits.
What Conditions Qualify for Disability Benefits? A Partial List
Our Social Security Disability lawyers have helped Arizonans get disability benefits with multiple physical health conditions, mental health conditions, and combinations of conditions.
These are some of the most common impairments we’ve seen among people seeking Social Security Disability:
Some medical conditions come with special challenges to prove you can’t work and should receive Social Security Disability, but with a carefully prepared claim, you can still win benefits.
Conditions whose main symptoms are pain, fatigue or emotional distress are especially difficult to prove to the SSA because it’s so hard for other people, like doctors and Social Security claims examiners, to measure symptoms that only you experience and understand.
In cases like this, Slepian Ellexson Arizona disability attorneys know what to do. We have extensive experience documenting health limitations that aren’t physically visible. We frequently obtain benefits for health problems including:
If you’re wondering what qualifies for disability benefits and whether your health problems count, you can talk to our disability lawyer team—at no cost—to learn more and see how you can proceed.
Get a free disability claim evaluation.
What if My Condition Is Not on the Social Security Disability List of Impairments?
Several of the health problems we listed above are on the official Social Security Disability list of impairments. Some of them, even some of the very common conditions, are not specifically listed as qualifying for disability benefits on their own.
But like we said before, even with disorders that don’t appear in the “blue book,” you have a path to win disability benefits.
Here are two major ways:
Measuring Your Residual Functional Capacity (RFC)
No matter your diagnosis, with help from your doctor you can demonstrate that the state of your health rules out working.
Your RFC is a measure Social Security uses of concrete activities you can and cannot do, such as:
Your individual symptoms, not the name of your illness, determine your residual functional capacity. Whether Social Security acknowledges your disorder or not, if your symptoms are severe enough, you may qualify for disability benefits.
Showing How Multiple Conditions Amplify Each Other
You don’t have to apply for Social Security Disability claiming one health problem and one health problem only.
It’s common to present multiple health issues in your benefits claim. Sometimes it’s the interaction of these conditions, rather than any one of the conditions alone, that leaves you unable to work.
Your Social Security Disability lawyer can help you tell this story to win benefits.
Conditions like diabetes and obesity, for example, are extremely common. But they don’t necessarily qualify for disability benefits on their own. Millions of people have them and can still work.
But it’s also true that diabetes and obesity are related to multiple other health problems. They can be part of an overall picture of why you can’t work.
You want a disability lawyer who knows what conditions qualify for disability benefits, all the ways they can qualify, and how to put together a strong argument for you.
In Arizona, talk to Slepian Ellexson. You pay no disability attorney fee until you win benefits.
Make sure that every detail of your health that affects your life is fairly represented in your disability application, so you have the best chance possible of winning benefits for a better future.
Contact Slepian Ellexson disability lawyers in Arizona.
How Social Security Looks at Symptoms that Are Hard to Measure
Some of the most difficult medical conditions to deal with are also the hardest to prove for a disability claim.
Pain, fatigue, anxiety, depression and related symptoms don’t always show up clearly on tests.
If they’re affecting your ability to work, they still matter and should count in your disability application. It helps to have someone experienced on your side who can help you explain and document these symptoms—the Arizona disability attorneys at Slepian Ellexson.
Social Security understands not every serious health problem can be measured with a scan or lab result.
They also look at how your symptoms affect your ability to function over time. These limitations are reflected in your RFC.
Here are the kinds of documentation you’ll need:
It’s not enough to say you’re in pain or feel exhausted. What matters is how those symptoms affect your ability to get through a day—to sit, stand, concentrate, interact with others, and stay consistent in a work setting.
Consistency matters. When your symptoms are documented clearly over time, it becomes easier to show the full impact of what you’re dealing with.
At Slepian Ellexson, many of the people we help have conditions that aren’t visible, conditions that different people experience differently, and conditions that are hard for others to understand.
We know how to show Social Security how your individual symptoms and limitations affect your ability to work, so they fully understand your situation.
My Doctor Says I Have a Disability. Why Doesn’t Social Security Agree?
This is something we hear a lot.
You may have a doctor who agrees that your medical impairments amount to a disability. But Social Security may still deny your claim.
That’s because of how Social Security defines disability in a very specific way.
For them, as you can tell, it’s not just about having a serious condition. Social Security’s definition of a qualifying impairment for disability benefits is whether it keeps you from working on a regular, substantial basis.
Your doctor may focus on your diagnosis and treatment. Social Security is focused on what you can and can’t do every day.
That means your claim needs to clearly show:
This is where many disability claims run into problems. Medical records don’t always include this kind of detail unless you specifically tell your doctor about it, and sometimes even remind them to put it in their reports on your health disorders.
It’s important to communicate clearly with your doctor about how your condition affects your daily life, not just how it feels to you.
Some of the details you need may seem so small that you don’t think about them. An experienced disability lawyer can raise these points.
When your records show how your health problems limit your ability to function in basic ways, your case for disability benefits becomes stronger.
The Slepian Ellexson disability lawyers help you bridge that gap.
We work with you and your health care providers to make sure your medical records reflect the full picture of your condition.
When health struggles have altered your life, Social Security Disability benefits are a path to greater peace and stability.
Slepian Ellexson helps you move forward with clearer understanding of your options and a stronger case.
