Under the Social Security Act, "disability" means "inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity because of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months."

There are at least five major types of Social Security disability benefits. Disability Insurance Benefits is the most important type of Social Security disability benefits. It goes to individuals who have worked in recent years (five out of the last 10 years in most cases) who are now disabled.

Disabled Widow's and Widower's Benefits are paid to individuals who are at least 50 and become disabled within a certain amount of time after the death of their husband or wife. The late husband or wife must have worked enough under Social Security to be insured.
Disabled Adult Child Benefits go to the children of persons who are deceased or who are drawing Social Security disability or retirement benefits. The child must have become disabled before age 22. For Disability Insurance Benefits, Disabled Widow's or Widower's Benefits and Disabled Adult Child benefits, it does not matter whether the disabled individual is rich or poor. Benefits are paid based upon a Social Security earnings record.
Supplemental Security Income benefits, however, are paid to individuals who are poor and who are disabled. It does not matter for SSI whether an individual has worked in the past or not.
SSI child's disability benefits are a variety of SSI benefits paid to children under the age of 18 who are disabled. The way in which disability is determined is a bit different for children.

The best, surest way to file a Social Security disability claim is to go online at https://www.ssa.gov/. You can now file for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) online but only if you meet certain requirements. You are eligible to file online for SSI if you:

• Are between the ages of 18 and 65;
• Have never been married;
• Aren’t blind;
• Are a U.S. citizen residing in one of the fifty states, District of Columbia, or the Northern Mariana Islands;
• Haven’t applied for or received SSI benefits in the past; and
• Are applying for Social Security Disability Insurance at the same time as your SSI claim. Find out if you are eligible to receive Social Security Disability Benefits.

Once you finish the online process, a Social Security representative will contact you for any additional information needed for the applications. You can also schedule an appointment with a local Social Security office to file an application. Call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778)from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday or contact your local Social Security office.

• After helping you complete your application, the Social Security office will review it to see if you meet the basic requirements for disability benefits. The Social Security office will send your application to the DDS in your State.
• The DDS will decide whether you are disabled under the Social Security law.
• The DDS will consider all the facts in your case. They will consider what your doctors or other sources have said about your impairment(s), when it began, how it limits your activities, what the medical tests have shown, and what treatment you have received. They will use medical evidence from your doctors and from hospitals, clinics, or institutions where you have been treated, and all the other information they have about your condition.
• A trained DDS team, including a doctor and a disability examiner, looks at the forms you filled out, your medical records, information about how you are functioning, and, if applicable, your work history, and then decides if you are disabled or blind for SSI purposes.
• If they cannot make a decision based on the information they have, the DDS will schedule a special medical examination for you and will pay for this examination. They may pay for your travel expenses to this
• examination. It is important that you go to the special medical examination if one is scheduled. If you do not keep the appointment, your claim could be denied.

In deciding if you are disabled, the DDS team uses a process called the sequential evaluation process.

If you appear to meet all the non‑medical eligibility requirements (income, resources, residency, citizenship, etc.), a step‑by‑step process involving 5 questions is used to determine if you are disabled. These 5 steps are called the sequential evaluation process. The following sections describe how sequential evaluation is used for both adults and children.

SEQUENTIAL EVALUATION FOR ADULTS AGE 18 OR OLDER
STEP 1: ARE YOU WORKING?
If you are working and performing substantial gainful activity, then you generally cannot be considered disabled, and the process ends here. We decide if your work is "substantial" (significant) and "gainful" (for pay). A general rule is that substantial gainful activity is earnings over $1,180 per month (effective January 2018) for people who are not blind. If you are not working or not performing substantial gainful activity, your case will be sent to the DDS for a decision.

STEP 2:DO YOU HAVE A SEVERE IMPAIRMENT?
Your condition must interfere with basic work‑related activities for you claim to be considered. If it does not, we will find that you are not disabled. If it does, we will go to the next step.
Examples of basic work activities are: physical functions such as standing, walking, sitting, lifting; seeing, hearing, speaking; understanding and
carrying out simple instructions; use of judgment; responding appropriately to supervision and co‑workers; and dealing with changes.

STEP 3:DO YOU HAVE AN IMPAIRMENT WHICH MEETS OR EQUALS A SOCIAL SECURITY "LISTED IMPAIRMENT?"
Our regulations list specific impairments that are so severe that they automatically mean you are disabled. If your impairment is severe and meets the requirements of a listed impairment, then you are found to be disabled and the process ends here. If your impairment is not listed, or you have more than 1 impairment, the DDS looks at whether the impairment is of a severity equal to a listed impairment. If your impairments equal the requirements of a listed impairment, then you are found to be disabled and the process ends here. If your disability is severe, but does not meet or equal a listed impairment, you can still be found disabled later in the process. The DDS decides what you are physically and mentally able to do, despite the limitations resulting from your impairments. This decision is called a Residual Functional Capacity or RFC assessment.

STEP 4:ARE YOU ABLE TO DO YOUR PAST WORK?
If, taking into account your RFC assessment, you are able to do work you did in the past (generally the last 15 years), you will be found to be not disabled and the process ends here.

STEP 5: CAN YOU DO ANY OTHER KIND OF WORK?
Given your medical condition and the limitations described in your RFC assessment, the DDS looks at your age, education, past work experience, and any transferable skills you may have, to decide if you could adjust to other work. If you can adjust to other work, your claim will be denied. If you cannot adjust to other work, you will be found disabled.