If history lessons have taught us anything, we should all know the impacts of the Wall Street Market crash of 1929, which led to President Theodore Roosevelt being elected and the enactment of some social and government safety nets for Americans prior to which none were available.
In 1935, the Social Security Act was passed and the new legislation provided retirement benefits for Americans, but the disability program came much later. It wasn’t until President Dwight Eisenhower signed amendments to the Social Security Act in 1954 that the first piece of legislation was enacted regarding the disabled. This act would only put a “freeze” on a worker’s Social Security record when they were unable to work due to disability, so retirement benefits could be preserved.
Just two years later, 1956, the Social Security Act was amended to finally include provisions and payments for disabled workers age 50-64 and for disabled adult children. During Eisenhower’s last year as president, he signed a law amending the Social Security Act yet again to allow disability payments awarded to disabled workers of all ages.
Just six years after the changes to legislation, the one millionth disabled worker began receiving benefits under the SSDI program.
As of December 2012, there were nearly 9 million workers receiving Social Security disability benefits.
Another disability program, Supplement Security Income (SSI) began in 1974 to provide a safety net for those who failed to qualify for the SSDI program because they had not worked long enough or more recently enough to qualify for benefits. The SSI program has its own rules about qualifying, mainly that you must be considered disabled, but also that you must fall into low income and asset requirements, because SSI is a needs-based program. To learn more about both programs click here.
