Social Security Disability for Seizures in Detroit
If you experience regular seizures, they could keep you from holding a job. Social Security disability benefits are a financial lifeline in this situation.
But applying for benefits when you suffer from seizures is complicated.
Seizures can be symptoms of many health conditions. Your chances at winning disability income might hinge on the root cause of your seizures.
Epilepsy can cause seizures. So can a traumatic brain injury.
An experienced lawyer can help you document your case and improve your chances of successfully applying for disability income.
What would you like to do?
Understanding the Requirements for Disability Benefits
Some basic requirements apply to anyone seeking Social Security disability benefits, regardless of their health condition.
- First, you have to have a condition or disorder that meets Social Security’s requirements for an “impairment”.
- Second, your condition must make it impossible for you to maintain gainful employment.
Some people think this means you can’t work at all in order to qualify. However, in some cases, you can work part-time hours and still draw benefits—as long as you don’t make more than a certain amount of money each month. The allowed amount changes every year. Finally, your condition must be debilitating enough to stop you from working for at least one year.
How Are Seizure Disorders Different from Other Disabilities?
Applying for disability benefits for a seizure disorder comes with special considerations.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has published specific guidelines for evaluating whether a seizure disorder such as epilepsy counts as a disability for the purpose of receiving benefits.
With epilepsy, Social Security looks at these factors:
- Whether you’re having one of the two major types of epileptic seizures: generalized tonic-clonic seizures or dyscognitive seizures
- A description of your seizures from a medical professional who has witnessed a seizure
- Whether you’re following your prescribed treatment program
- How many seizures you’re having while undergoing treatment
If you’re having other types of seizures, Social Security evaluates them under “other mental disorders.”
The SSA notes that not all seizure disorders keep you from gainful employment.
It points out that many cases of epilepsy, for example, are well-controlled with medication and treatment. Someone with well-controlled epilepsy may not have seizures.
They also might not qualify for disability benefits.
So if seizures are a main reason you’re seeking disability benefits, you have to factor in other information about the illness underlying your seizures.
Getting Help from a Social Security Disability Attorney
The relationship between Social Security disability and seizures is complex.
With any disability case, it can be tedious to work through the application process. If you’re living with seizures, dealing with an unwieldy bureaucracy adds stress and another threat to your health and well-being.
Since Social Security has said it does not always consider seizures debilitating, you need a detailed strategy during the application process.
You have to show just how detrimental your seizures are and provide medical records to support your case.
It eases your burden to have an experienced Social Security disability attorney by your side.
The lawyers at Levine Benjamin Law Firm have decades of experience working with clients to win Social Security disability benefits. We’ve helped more than 80,000 people win benefits, including people who suffer from debilitating seizures.
From applying to appealing, we help you every step of the way.