Basically, the issue before Social Security is: is there some job which you can do on a full time basis? It doesn’t matter if you are a professional, or a laborer, white collar or blue. If you were a surgeon but now can only sit and take tickets at a toll booth on a regular basis, you may not qualify as disabled. But is that always the case?
Fortunately … Nope.
As you get older the rules begin to change. Social Security has developed a set of medical-vocational guidelines commonly referred to as “the girds.” The basic concept behind the grids is, the older you get the less vocational adjustment you should have to make to return to work. These rules currently begin to change when you approach age 50. They change again at 55, and again at age 60. Eventually, the rules contemplate that unless you can do pretty much the same job you had done in the past, you will be found disabled.
There is a chance that these rules may be changed by Congress at some point to account for the fact that people are working longer, and that they change occupations more often now than they did in the past. For example, at some point in the future the grids may not apply until age 55. The idea being that today’s 55 is yesterdays 50. Is it a good idea to make the age limits on the grids higher? Perhaps. But for now the age at which the rules start to change is just prior to your 50th birthday.
