Social Security disability attorneys and representatives are very familiar with the Listing of Impairments, which is the basis for disability evaluations under the Social Security Administration.
The Listing of Impairments describes, for each major body system, impairments considered severe enough to prevent an individual from doing any gainful activity. This is a bit different for children under the age of 18 who are applying for SSI. Under that program, conditions must be severe enough to cause “marked and severe functional limitations.”
Most of the listings, according to Social Security, are considered to be permanent or expected to result in death, or the listing should include a specified duration period. For all other listings, the evidence (mainly medical records) must show that the impairment has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months.
The listings are broken up between Part A and Part B. The Part A listings contain medical criteria that apply to impairments in adults age 18 and older and evaluations are focused on how the impairments would prevent an individual from working at a Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) level. Social Security defines SGA as someone who earns more than $1,070 per month gross (before taxes) through work activity.
The Part B listings contain additional medical criteria that apply to the evaluation of impairments of persons under the age of 18. The key to the Part B listings is that even in the event there is an absence of a listing-level impairment, it does not necessarily mean the person is not disabled, it means the adjudicator must move on to the next step on the process to apply other rules to determine disability.
For more information about how Social Security looks at its listing of impairments click here.
