How are the grid rules for people over 50 years old applyied according to social security disability?

The Social Security Disability "GRIDS" may be used to determine benefit eligibility for applicants of several different age groups: not only those over fifty. They are tools - almost like those vertical "flow charts" used in troubleshooting: you start at the top and work your way down in the direction of the "YES" arrows. But a tad more complicated. We are talking about the government, after all ;) The GRIDS work on the principle that the younger and better educated you are, the easier it will be for you to take the skills you used in your past work and adapt them to new, less-demanding employment. (There is no "less-demanding" level of work than "Sedentary": therefore, if ALL your past work has been in this category, the GRIDS would be of no use in evaluating your application. Your burden is to prove you can no longer do SGA (Significantly Gainful Activity) at even this very lowest level.) First, the examiners will look at your application to determine if your documented level of exertional impairment (loss of strength; coordination; mobility; etc.) immediately qualifies you as "Disabled": "unable to do SGA at the Sedentary Level". This doesn't happen often, but it does happen. You could also be classified as "Disabled" due to completely non-exertionalimpairment: say, uncontrollable schizophrenia. Or your documented combination of exertional and non-exertional impairment might qualify you as "Disabled". But often the findings will be that you are able to do SGA at one of three levels below that of your past work: Sedentary, Light or Medium, and there is a GRID for each of these levels. If your past work is considered to be at "Medium" level, perhaps they will feel you can now work only at the Sedentary Level - or at the "Light" level. (Remember: if all of your past work was Sedentary and you are found "able" to do SGA at a Sedentary level, there's no need to plug you into any GRID: you're not Disabled - at least by Social Security's standards. In addition, any applicant who might be found able to do Heavy or Very Heavy work is highly unlikely to be found Disabled under any circumstances of age or education, so there are no GRIDS for these levels.) So it has been decided that despite your impairment, you can perform SGA at one of these three levels. Now your age and education and the type and level of skills in your previous work come into play. First: age.

"Younger Individual: between 18 and 44" "Younger Individual: between 44 and 49" "Closely approaching Advanced Age: between 50 and 55" "Advanced Age: over 55" Your education is categorized as one of the following:

"Illiterate or cannot communicate in English".

"Limited or Less / at least literate and able to communicate in English".

"High School Graduate or more: does NOT provide for direct entry-level into skilled work" "High School Graduate or more" DOES provide for direct entry-level into skilled work" And finally, the nature (NOT exertional level) of your Previous Work Exp.

"Unskilled / None" "Semi-skilled or skilled: skills NOT transferable" "Semi-skilled or skilled: skills TRANSFERABLE (Can you see how broad these GRIDS are? A 24 year-old plumber falls into ALL the same categories as a 44 year-old brain surgeon All these variables are arranged in vertical columns giving the various possible combinations of ages, education and work experience across. And for each combination, there is a "Decision": either "Disabled" or "Not Disabled". The three GRIDS with all the combinations are too large to reproduce here. But here is an example of how age and education affect eligibility: In the "Sedentary" GRID:

There are 7 possible combinations for those between 18 and 44

NONE result in a "Decision" of "Disabled" (0%)

There are 6 possible combinations for those between 45 and 49

Only ONE results in a "Decision" of "Disabled" (17%) There are 8 possible combinations for those between 50 and 55

FOUR result in a "Decision" of "Disabled" (50%) There are 8 possible combinations for those over 55

Four result in a "Decision" of "Disabled" (again, 50%) I hope I've explained this adequately. It is pretty complicated and a lot still has to do with how Social Security categorizes your past employment. But I know how hard it is to deal with the mysteriousness of the process and perhaps this might make it a little less so ;)