What conditions qualify for Social Security Disability?

Social Security does not work from a list of approved diagnoses. The test is whether a medically determinable impairment — or a combination of them — keeps a person from working at a substantial level, and has lasted or is expected to last at least twelve months.

Social Security does publish a “Listing of Impairments,” organized by body system, and meeting a listing's specific criteria is one way to be found disabled. But most claims are approved not on a listing — instead on the everyday functional limits the condition causes: how long a person can sit, stand, concentrate, or keep pace across a full workday.

Some very serious conditions are handled on a faster track.

See conditions for how specific impairments are evaluated.