USE IMPAIRMENTS TO SHOW DISABILITY

Unless you have a terminal or catastrophic illness, getting disability benefits is not about having a particular disease.  It is about how your impairments limit your ability to function in the workplace.

Social Security considers impairments in two broad categories:  exertional impairments and non-exertional impairments. 

(a) Exertional limitations (sometimes called "strength" limitations) are:  sitting, standing, walking, lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling.

 

(b) Nonexertional limitations.

 

When the limitations and restrictions imposed by your impairment(s) and related symptoms, such as pain, affect only your ability to meet the demands of jobs other than the strength demands, Social Security considers that you have only nonexertional limitations or restrictions. While you may still be found disabled, you will not meet any of the grid rules with non-exertional impairments.

 

Some examples of nonexertional limitations or restrictions include the following:

 

(i) You have difficulty functioning because you are nervous, anxious, or depressed;

(ii) You have difficulty maintaining attention or concentrating;

(iii) You have difficulty understanding or remembering detailed instructions;

(iv) You have difficulty in seeing or hearing;

(v) You have difficulty tolerating some physical feature(s) of certain work settings, e.g., you cannot tolerate dust or fumes; or

(vi) You have difficulty performing the manipulative or postural functions of some work such as reaching, handling, stooping, climbing, crawling, or crouching.

(2) If your impairment(s) and related symptoms, such as pain, only affect your ability to perform the nonexertional aspects of work-related activities, you will not be considered under the Medical-Vocational Guidelines of Appendix 2, Subpart P.  That is, you cannot meet a grid rule.

 

If I am representing you, I will determine whether you have exertional (strength) limitations that may meet one of the grid rules and, therefore, direct a finding of disability.  This will apply to claimants who are at least fifty years of age.

 

I will also determine if you have non-exertional limitations--postural, psychological or environmental--that may limit your ability to sustain full-time work.

 

In many cases, a claimant has a combination of both exertional and non-exertional limitations. 

 

If exertional (strength) limitations alone allow disability under one of the grid rules (only for ages 50 or above), I will try to use these limitations to get an award.

 

If you are under age 50, or if your primary limitations are non-exertional, I will try to show that the combination of your limitations are so severe that you cannot sustain any full-time work that is available in the national economy.

 

Social Security decision making is a very technical and complicated business.  In order to map out a possible route to success, you need to know the rules of the road.

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The Forsythe Firm

7027 Old Madison Pike - Suite 108

Huntsville, AL 35806

"Across from Bridge Street"

PH (256) 799-0297