inzbizz said:
wisconsin, can anyone tell us what the visual accuity needs to be to be considered legally blind?? my wife has retinitis pigmentosis (rp) but has enough visual field not to be considered for social security disability. Her accuity is at 20/100 in one eye and 20/200 in the other. Rp is a heriditary degenerative disease in which her visual field will eventually put her as "legally blind" but her accuity is at a point which social security states that she is able to work?? what can we do?? she stopped working a year ago on the advice of her eye dr. thanks
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10052.html
You can get disability benefits if you are “legally blind”
You may qualify for Social Security or SSI disability benefits if you are considered “legally blind.” We consider you to be legally blind if your vision cannot be corrected to better than 20/200 in your better eye, or if your visual field is 20 degrees or less in your better eye.
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You can get disability benefits even if you are not legally blind
If your vision does not meet the legal definition of blindness, you may still qualify for disability benefits if your vision problems alone or combined with other health problems prevent you from working. For Social Security disability benefits, you also must have worked long enough in a job where you paid Social Security taxes. For SSI payments based on disability and blindness, you need not have worked, but your income and resources must be under certain dollar limits.
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How you qualify for Social Security disability benefits
When you work and pay Social Security taxes, you earn credits that count toward future Social Security benefits.
If you are legally blind, you can earn credits anytime during your working years. Credits for your work after you become blind can be used to qualify you for benefits if you do not have enough credits at the time you become blind.
Also, if you do not have enough credits to get Social Security disability benefits based on your own earnings, you may be able to get benefits based on the earnings of one of your parents or your spouse.
For more information about Social Security disability benefits, contact us to get our publication, Disability Benefits (Publication No. 05-10029). This booklet is also available in Braille.
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Disability Freeze
There is a special rule that may help you get higher retirement or disability benefits some day. You can use this rule if you are legally blind but are not getting disability benefits now because you are still working. If your earnings are lower because of your blindness, we can exclude those years when we calculate your Social Security retirement or disability benefit in the future. Because Social Security benefits are based on your average lifetime earnings, your benefit will be higher if we do not count those years. We call this rule a “disability freeze.” Contact us if you want to file for this “freeze.”
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You can get SSI disability payments
SSI payments are based on need. Your income and resources must be less than certain dollar limits. The income limits vary from one state to another. You need not have worked under Social Security to qualify for SSI. Ask your local Social Security office about the income limits in your state and contact us for a copy of the publication, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) (Publication No. 05-11000). This booklet also is available in Braille and is part of a talking book from the Library of Congress.
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