Disability Benefits Through the Social Security Administration Are Available for People with Brain Injury

Employment challenges frequently occur as a result of brain injury. Social and behavioral issues can interfere with an individual’s ability to obtain or keep a job.

Vocational rehabilitation services that provide work rehabilitation training and transitional services are offered in many states. For example, in New York State, Adult Career and Continuing Education Services-Vocational Rehabilitation (ACCES-VR) are offered by the New York State Department of Education and provide services to assist people with disabilities in obtaining a full range of employment and independent living arrangements throughout their lives. When these services are insufficient to allow an individual to obtain or continue employment then disability benefits should be sought through the Social Security Administration.

Often mental health problems are overlooked and not appropriately addressed in an application for social security benefits, and this omission may result in a denial of benefits. Depression, cognitive fatigue, and medication side effects can all contribute to the inability of an individual to maintain steady employment and must be spelled-out in the social security application and supported by the medical documentation that accompanies the application.

It is critically important that an application for social security disability benefits follows the criteria set forth by the Social Security Administration for disability caused by a brain injury. The key issue is not the original injury or treatment received, but establishing the individual’s present inability to be gainfully employed.

The following issues should be addressed in any application for traumatic brain injury-related disability:

Mental Abilities Needed For Any Job:

Understanding, carrying out, and remembering simple instructions:

• The ability to remember locations and work procedures.
• The ability to understand and remember very short and simple instructions.
• The ability to maintain concentration and attention for extended periods of time.
• The ability to perform activities within a schedule, maintain regular attendance, and be punctual within customary tolerances.
• The ability to sustain an ordinary routine without special supervision.
• The ability to work in coordination with or close proximity to others without being unduly distracted by them.
• The ability to complete a normal workday and workweek without interruptions from psychologically based symptoms and to perform at a consistent pace without an unreasonable number and length of rest periods.

Use of judgment:

• The ability to make simple work-related decisions.
• The ability to be aware of normal hazards and take appropriate precautions.

Responding appropriately to supervision, coworkers, and usual work situations:

• The ability to ask simple questions or request assistance.
• The ability to accept instructions and respond appropriately to criticism from supervisors.
• The ability to get along with coworkers or peers without unduly distracting them or exhibiting behavioral extremes.

It is important that a claimant’s prior work and social history be used to corroborate his or her inability to meet these criteria, and that the assistance of an attorney who specializes in social security disability claims be consulted at the time that an individual applies for social security disability benefits.