Written by Danishy Kuganesan
Introduction
It is an important facet for people with disabilities to learn about how to best navigate disability funding with ease and comfort. In our previous blog posts titled “Understanding Disability Determination Services: A Comprehensive Guide for Seamless Access and Clarity”, and “Navigating Canadian Disability Benefits: A Comprehensive Guide to Qualifications, Duration, and the New Disability Benefit”, we dived into who determines disabilities in the US and Canada, what are the most common benefits that are accessible to people with disabilities living in the US and Canada, how much money people with disabilities can receive and which disabilities are applicable to apply for disability benefits.
In this blog post, we are going to examine everything to do with Social Security in the US and Canada. First, we’ll look at who is eligible for disability benefits, what is and how much is Social Security (SSDI), how do people with disabilities qualify for SSDI, what is SSI and how much is SSI. We hope to communicate to you about ways you can access disability benefits, the importance of these benefits to help live your life with ease and opening up the barrier to entry for any of these benefits in the US.
Who is Eligible for Disability?
Both the SSA for the US and the CPP-D program in Canada have listed specific groups of disabilities that are eligible for Disability. In order to qualify, you or another person with disability must fill in applications that provide a medical notice from a healthcare professional (either from healthcare providers, loosely termed doctors or specialists), that describes the long-term degree of a disability and how that disability directly impacts their daily lives.
There are also disabilities that automatically qualify people with disabilities. In the US and Canada, there is a list of disability groups which are organized as the following
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Neurological disorders, - Conditions that affect the brain’s ability to properly function. Common disabilities in this category are Epilepsy, Traumatic brain injury and stroke
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Musculoskeletal disorders - Conditions that affect the muscles, joints, bones, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and cartilage. Common disabilities in this category are Carpel Tunnel, Osteoporosis and Muscle strains
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Cardiovascular conditions, - Conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels. Common disabilities in this category are Heart failure, Heart valve disease and Peripheral artery disease
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Mental health disorders, - Conditions that affect the mental health of people. Common disabilities in this category are depression, generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
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Sensory impairments - Conditions that affect the person’s senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch). Common disabilities in this category are blindness, deafness and reduced spatial awareness
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Chronic and terminal illnesses - Incurable conditions that are expected to end in death. Common disabilities in this category are multiple forms of cancer, HIV/AIDS Dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
What is Social Security (SSDI) and how much is SSDI?
Social Security Disability (SSDI) is a US-based funding by the Social Security Administration (SSA). This funding is used to help people with disabilities receive the financial benefits they need to survive and gain access to equipment and services that help them live their best lives after getting the notice that they can’t work. Social Security pays benefits to people who can't work because they have a medical condition that's expected to last at least one year. This also applies to people with terminal illnesses as they are expected to face death at some point in their lives.
The SSA will determine your payment based on your lifetime average earnings before you become disabled. One’s benefit amount will be calculated using the covered earnings. These are the balances one receives at any job where the employer took money out of your wages for Social Security. SSDI payments range between $800 and $1,800 USD per month. The SSA has an online benefits calculator that you can use to obtain an estimate of your monthly benefits. You can learn more about how one’s payments are calculated using this web page.
Qualifications for SSDI
To qualify for SSDI funding, you must prove to the US government that you or a person you know with disabilities are between the ages of 18-64, have previously worked at any job position that requires themselves to fill in any taxes for SSDI as well as list any disability, the length of this disability and the severity of the disability. For the list of eligible disability groups, please refer back to the “Who is Eligible for Disability?” section of this blog article.
Once you have shown that you are qualified for work, you are able to gain work credits. Work credits are the components that help people with disabilities earn SSDI benefits. For every time a person with disabilities fills in their social security tax forms, they’ll receive 1 work credit. The SSA offers this response as the basis for the amount of work credits one may need to qualify for SSDI benefits. “Generally, you need 40 credits, 20 of which were earned in the last 10 years ending with the year your disability begins.” If you or any person with disabilities who lives in the US want to learn more about how work credits work and who is eligible for work credits, please read this article by Brandy Bauer.
What is Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and how much is SSI
Besides SSDI benefits, there is another category of disability benefits in the US called Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The SSA pays monthly benefits to people with limited income and resources who are blind, age 65 or older, or have a qualifying disability. SSI benefits are also applicable to children with disabilities. There are some key differences between SSI and SSDI that the SSA has outlined here. In this blog post, we have chosen to name a few of these differences here.
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SSI benefits aren’t based on prior work experiences
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SSI is financed by general funds of the U.S. Treasury. Social Security taxes collected under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) or the Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA) do not fund the SSI program
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In most states, SSI recipients can also get medical assistance (Medicaid) to pay for hospital stays, doctor bills, prescription drugs, and other health costs.
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SSI recipients may also be eligible for food assistance.
There are also some similarities between SSI and SSDI benefits. These similarities are the age range of eligibility for both benefits, they both pay monthly benefits, and SSA administers both programs. Every year, new values are attributed to these groups. Below are the SSI amounts for 2025.
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$967 USD for an eligible individual
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$1,450 USD for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse,
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$484 USD for an essential person.
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Take Away
In this article, we looked into disability benefits from the SSA located in the US. We first looked at the disability groups that are automatically considered for disability benefits in the US, what is SSDI and how much is SSDI, the qualifications to get SSDI, what is SSI and how much is SSI. All of these benefits impact the treatment and overall financial health of people with disabilities as it helps them get the financial benefits needed to continue to live their lives and get the support needed. Having services and benefits in the US for disabilities is needed because the US Healthcare system operates on a combined effort of both private and public healthcare. Prices for the proper healthcare needed for people with disabilities are very expensive and can result in high amounts of debt so having SSDI and SSI benefits be readily accessible is crucial.
To read more articles like this about how adaptable fashion is making waves in the fashion market as well as updates on where to find funding, benefits, and grants for yourself and other people with disabilities in Canada and the US, please sign up for the June Adaptive Newsletter link at the bottom of this blog post. You can also read our previous blog articles called “Understanding Disability Determination Services: A Comprehensive Guide for Seamless Access and Clarity”, and “Navigating Canadian Disability Benefits: A Comprehensive Guide to Qualifications, Duration, and the New Disability Benefit” to understand the Canadian counterpart of these disabilities benefits.
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