Social Security has special rules in place to pay benefits to people who are blind or who have significant vision impairments that prevent them from sustaining gainful employment. Below are the criteria from Social Security about these impairments and what the requirements are.
You can get disability benefits if you’re blind
You may qualify for Social Security benefits or SSI disability payments if you’re blind. We consider you to be blind if your vision can’t 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 for a period that lasted or is expected to last at least 12 months.
You can get disability benefits even if you’re not blind
If your vision doesn’t meet Social Security’s definition of blindness, you may still qualify for disability benefits if your vision problems alone, or combined with other health problems, prevent you from working. For Social Security disability benefits, you must also have worked long enough in a job where you paid Social Security taxes. For SSI payments based on disability and blindness, you need not have worked, but your income and resources must be under certain dollar limits.
How you qualify for Social Security disability benefits
When you work and pay Social Security taxes, you earn credits that count toward future Social Security benefits. If you’re blind, you can earn credits anytime during your working years. Credits for your work after you become blind can be used to qualify you for benefits if you don’t have enough credits at the time you become blind. Also, if you don’t have enough credits to get Social Security disability benefits based on your own earnings, you may be able to get benefits based on the earnings of one of your parents or your spouse. For more information about Social Security disability benefits, read Disability Benefits. This booklet also is available in Braille and other formats.
Disability freeze
There is a special rule that may help you get higher retirement or disability benefits someday. You can use this rule if you are blind but aren’t getting disability benefits now because you are still working. If your earnings are lower because of your blindness, we can exclude those years when we calculate your Social Security retirement or disability benefit in the future. Because Social Security benefits are based on your average lifetime earnings, your benefit will be higher if we don’t count those years. We call this rule a “disability freeze.” Contact Social Security if you want to file for this “freeze.”
Social Security notices
You can choose to receive notices from us in one of the following ways; just let us know which you prefer:
- Standard print notice by first-class mail;
- Standard print notice by certified mail;
- Standard print notice by first-class mail and a follow-up telephone call;
- Braille notice and a standard print notice by first-class mail;
- Microsoft Word file on a data compact disc (CD) and a standard print notice by first-class mail; 7
- Audio CD and a standard print notice by first-class mail; or
- Large print (18-point size) notice and a standard print notice by first-class mail. To select one of these options, please:
- Visit our website at www.socialsecurity.gov/notices and follow the steps provided;
- Call us toll-free at 1-800-772-1213. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, you may call our TTY number at 1-800-325-0778; or
- Write or visit your local Social Security office.
