If you’re arent able to work for at least 12 months after your stroke, you can file a claim for Social Security Disability benefits. To be eligible, you must provide medical proof of your stroke. Medical records and diagnostic testing will suffice.
Some individuals may meet the requirement of whats called a ‘Medical Listing’ in the Blue Book. To qualify for disability benefits under this medical listing of impairments you must be unable to:
Speak or write effectively due to expressive aphasia (difficulty forming words, also called motor aphasia) or sensory aphasia (characterized by fluent, nonsensical speech and the inability to understand, also called receptive aphasia).
Or
Control the movement of at least two extremities (either an arm and a leg or two arms or two legs), despite at least three months of treatment. This must result in extreme difficulty in balancing while standing or walking, to stand up from a seated position, or to use the arms.
Or
Overcome marked physical problems along with a marked limitation in any one of the following:
Thinking (understanding, remembering or applying information)
Interacting with others Finishing tasks (problems with concentration, persistence or speed)
Regulating emotions and controlling behavior (such as problems with responding to demands, adapting to changes and being aware of normal hazards)
If you have vision loss or other physical impairments as a result of your stroke, you may also qualify for social security disability under those listings.
Medical Vocational Allowance
If you can’t work as a result of medical problems due to stroke, but you don’t meet the medical listings in the Blue Book, you may also be eligible for benefits through a Medical Vocational Allowance also known as GRID rules. To get this exception, your doctor must describe your restrictions and limitations on a RFC form. RFC stands for residual functional capacity. Your attorney can provide you this form to give to your doctor to fill out that could tremendously help your case. The Social Security Administration will examine the RFC form as well as your work history and skills to try to find work you may still be able to do. But If tSSA can’t find work you can do, you’ll be eligible for disability benefits.