A proposed regulation has been published that would remove the inability to communicate in English as an education consideration in determining disability. Currently, the inability to communicate in English is taken into an account on disability claims related to education. Below is Social Security’s summary of the proposal.
We propose to eliminate the education category “inability to communicate in English” when we evaluate disability claims for adults under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act). Changes in the national workforce since we added this category to our rules in 1978 demonstrate that this education category is no longer a reliable indicator of an individual’s educational attainment or the vocational impact of an individual’s education. The proposed revisions reflect research and data related to English language proficiency, work, and education; expansion of the international reach of our disability programs; and audit findings by our Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The proposed revisions would help us better assess the vocational impact of education in the disability determination process.
Currently, Social Security is required to consider a claimant’s education in determining disability and an inability to communicate in English as a factor. Social Security’s rules indicate the agency considers the inability to communicate in English as an education category because the “inability to speak, read, and understand English is generally learned or increased in school. Current rules further explain that because English is the dominant language of this country, it may be difficult for someone who does not speak and understand English to do a job, regardless of the amount of education he or she may have in another language.”
There is no real significant background data for Social Security to change this rule, so we should wonder that why this is being proposed now?
