What Conditions Automatically Qualify You for Disability in Michigan?

You may have heard that Social Security has a list of impairments that qualify for disability benefits. Sometimes people call it the “blue book.”

The listing of impairments has 14 categories, including cancers, cardiovascular, immune system disorders, mental disorders, musculoskeletal and neurological.

Social Security discusses multiple ailments under each category, bringing the total to hundreds of different health problems.

You think—if an illness is on this list, does it automatically qualify for disability benefits?

The answer is no.

The listing of impairments can be helpful because it spells out symptoms you can document and types of medical evidence you can provide to support your disability benefits claim if you have a condition on the list.

But it doesn’t guarantee you’ll be approved for benefits.

You still have to prove that your medical impairment is severe enough to rule out work of just about any kind for the long term.

Many of the things on the list are health problems people can have and still work sometimes. So you have to show that even with efforts to manage your condition, you’re still unable to work.

These can include:

• Some cancer cases
• Pain disorders
• Fatigue disorders
• Common disorders like arthritis
• Mental health problems

For conditions like mental health, pain and fatigue, it can be difficult to find physical medical evidence of your impairment.

It can be even more difficult to convince someone else who can’t see or understand what you’re going through that you need disability benefits.

This is why it can take a lawyer to make your case and win Social Security Disability benefits—and you can’t just sign up and automatically get benefits.

A lot of the time, even people with conditions on Social Security’s official list of impairments don’t win benefits based on the list—they win benefits based on the limits in their everyday functioning regardless of their diagnosis.

The list has such specific requirements that it can be hard to meet all of them.

But the other method—assessing what Social Security calls your “residual functional capacity” or RFC—can be a more likely way to win benefits than matching an impairment on the list.

In fact, if your RFC shows that you could not get through a workday, you can win benefits even with a diagnosis for something that’s not in the “blue book.”

Your residual functional capacity is about the individual symptoms you struggle with, not the name of your disease.

Social Security says, “RFC is what an individual can still do despite their limitations.”

These are the factors that go into measuring your RFC:

• How long can you sit?
• How long can you stand?
• How much can you walk?
• Can you stoop?
• Can you reach for objects?
• How much can you lift?
• How much can you carry?
• Can you climb?
• How well can you push objects?
• How well can you pull objects?
• Can you handle and use small objects?
• How well can you see?
• How well can you hear?
• How well can you speak?
• Can you handle a severe environment, such as high heat?

Mental processing skills also go into your RFC:

• Can you understand instructions?
• Can you remember instructions?
• Can you follow instructions?
• Can you respond properly to your supervisor?
• Can you work effectively with co-workers?
• Can you avoid common workplace hazards?
• Can you use sound judgment and make decisions?
• Can you adapt if there’s a change in your work setting?

Social Security gets a measurement of all these points from your doctor examining you, or sometimes a doctor Social Security sends you to.

You have to be careful because doctors don’t always understand exactly what Social Security wants to see.

Social Security has a residual functional capacity form for doctors to fill out. But you don’t want to rely entirely on that.

Instead, your disability attorney can help you understand what you need to convey to your doctor about your day-to-day struggles with your health, and help your doctor understand what information Social Security is looking for.

What you consider to be a disability, what people in general think of as a disability and even what your doctor considers to be a disability are different from what Social Security calls a disability.

Your lawyer helps you bridge the gap between your medical providers and Social Security’s legal requirements for disability benefits.

Contact Levine Benjamin disability lawyers for help.

For every physical or mental health condition, different kinds of evidence may apply in your Social Security Disability claim, including:

• Blood test results
• Medical imaging (X-rays, MRIs, etc.)
• Stress test results
• Breathing test results
• Doctors’ examination reports
• Hospitalization records
• Surgery records
• Prescription lists
• Reports on effects of medication
• Reports from physical therapists
• Reports from occupational therapists
• Reports from mental health therapists
• Treatment plans and results of treatment
• Documents showing how your condition persists over time

Social Security Disability lawyers like the ones at Levine Benjamin Law Firm have helped thousands of people with almost any medical condition you can think of.

People often have more than one medical condition that applies to their disability benefits case. Sometimes when individual illnesses aren’t enough to get you approved for benefits, a combination of impairments can.

Your ability to function may be worsened by the ways your different ailments interact with each other, and your ability to win disability benefits may improve.

The Levine Benjamin disability attorneys know what information and evidence you need to strengthen your case.

Getting disability benefits isn’t automatic. But working with a skilled disability lawyer who cares about you can make the process easier.

Talk to us to take steps toward more support for a better life.

At Levine Benjamin, we’ve gathered information on many different impairments and how they work for Social Security Disability.

To learn more, see if your health problem is on this list and select it:

• Amputation
• Asthma
• Autism
• Back Pain
• Bipolar Disorder
• Blindness
• Cancer
• Cardiovascular Disease
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Cerebral Palsy
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Congestive Heart Failure
• Coronary Artery Disease
• COVID-19
• Crohn’s Disease
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Edema
• Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
• Epilepsy
• Fibromyalgia
• Glioblastoma SSDI Benefits
• Gout
• Headaches
• Hepatitis C & Liver Disease
• HIV/AIDS
• Interstitial Cystitis
• Ischemic Heart Disease
• Lung Impairments
• Lupus & Fibromyalgia
• Lyme Disease
• Mental Illness
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Musculoskeletal Diseases
• Neck Pain
• Obesity
• Osteoarthritis
• Personality Disorder
• Psychosis
• PTSD
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Schizophrenia
• Seizures
• Somatic Symptom Disorder
• Strokes