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If you’re wondering what conditions qualify for disability benefits, the Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a detailed guide called the Blue Book to decide eligibility. The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Listing of Impairments (Blue Book) is comprehensive, covering many common conditions that may be eligible for federal disability programs.
This guide will help you understand the disability list and the medical criteria evaluators use to decide whether you’re eligible for monthly benefits. It also defines disability and answers common questions about qualifying conditions.
To qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), you must have a medical condition that prevents you from doing “substantial gainful activity” (SGA) for at least 12 months or is expected to result in death. Physical and mental impairments must be proven by medical evidence. In 2026, SGA is $1,690 a month or $2,830 a month if you’re blind (gross income).
The list of disabilities for SSDI for adults includes:
If you’re wondering, “Do I qualify for disability?” know that conditions must be severe enough to prevent or limit your ability to work and do daily activities. Conditions like these do not meet eligibility requirements for SSDI:
What conditions automatically qualify you for disability? While approval won’t be “automatic,” the SSA typically fast-tracks approvals for disabilities on the Compassionate Allowances List (CAL). Stage 4 cancers, some mental disorders, Early-Onset Alzheimer’s, some spinal disorders, and organ failures are examples of illnesses on the CAL. See the full list here.
As with all conditions, to get SSDI, you must have medical evidence and show how the condition prevents or limits your ability to work for 12 months or longer or is expected to result in death.
A TERI condition is a terminal illness that is untreatable and expected to result in death. When a case is deemed TERI, the SSA will prioritize it and process it as quickly as possible.
Mental health disorders that may qualify for disability insurance fall within these 11 SSA categories:
Mood disorders such as major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder are usually evaluated under the depressive, bipolar, and related disorders category.
To prove that your mental condition is a qualifying disability, you must provide evidence such as:
Disorders that affect the bones, joints, muscles, spine, back, tendons, and ligaments are considered physical conditions that may qualify for SSDI. Examples are musculoskeletal and orthopedic disorders, severe back pain, inflammatory arthritis, amputations, fibromyalgia, scoliosis, and third and fourth-degree burns.
Physical disorders meet SSDI requirements when you can prove by medical evidence that they prevent or limit you from working for at least a year. The key to qualifying for disability insurance is providing physical exams, diagnostic tests, operation outcomes, the effects of treatments, and information about assistive devices that prove the severity of your condition.
The SSA evaluates a wide range of neurological disorders and injuries that limit you physically and/or mentally. Epilepsy, cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and muscular dystrophy are among the many neurological conditions that may result in Social Security benefits. Traumatic brain injuries, strokes, benign brain tumors, and coma states are also neurological conditions on disability claims.
The SSA uses your detailed medical history and symptoms, test results, how you responded to treatments, and doctors’ opinions about your condition to determine if your condition is severe enough to keep you from working, as described above as SGA.
Cardiovascular conditions are impairments that affect the heart and/or circulatory system. They include congenital heart defects, chronic heart failure, ischemic heart disease, coronary artery disease, recurrent arrhythmias, heart transplants, aneurysms of the aorta or major branches, congenital or peripheral heart disease, and chronic venous insufficiency.
Learn more about what heart problems qualify here.
You may not qualify for long-term disability if you’ve had a recent heart attack, bypass surgery, or started a beta-blocker or other drug therapy. In these cases, the SSA wants to see at least three months of medical evidence after the event before evaluating your impairment.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis or emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis and pneumoconiosis, asthma, cystic fibrosis, and bronchiectasis are respiratory illnesses and lung diseases that may qualify you for disability payments. Additionally, chronic pulmonary hypertension, respiratory failure, and lung transplants are evaluated in this category.
The medical evidence the SSA uses to assess the severity of your respiratory disorder includes medical history, imaging tests, pulmonary function tests, lab work, and your responses to treatments. Even if you use supplemental oxygen, medical evidence is still required.
Digestive system disorders that cause severe dysfunction to the liver, pancreas, or gastrointestinal tract may be eligible for disability. They include chronic liver disease, inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease, and intestinal failure. Weight loss due to a digestive disorder and liver, small intestine, or pancreas transplants is also evaluated in this category.
If they are severe and chronic, disorders like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastroparesis, Celiac Disease, Short Bowel Syndrome, and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) may also meet eligibility requirements.
You can qualify for SSDI when your digestive condition prevents or limits your ability to work as defined by SGA for 12 months or more.
An endocrine disorder affects the endocrine glands and the hormones they produce, leading to hormonal imbalance and complications throughout the body. The pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, and pancreas are endocrine glands that may produce too little of a hormone or overproduce it.
When severe, these endocrine disorders may qualify for long-term disability: Diabetes, thyroid disease (chronic hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia), Addison’s disease, Cushing’s syndrome, and other gland disorders.
Endocrine disorders may qualify when they cause problems in other body systems that last at least 12 months. The SSA evaluates these impairments under the body category of the resulting disorder. For example, thyroid gland disorders can cause cardiovascular, digestive, and neurological disorders, which can be qualifying disabilities.
Disorders that result in chronic kidney disease, such as chronic glomerulonephritis, hypertensive nephropathy, diabetic nephropathy, chronic obstructive uropathy, and hereditary nephropathies, are considered genitourinary conditions. Nephrotic syndrome is also in this category.
The SSA criteria for genitourinary disorders to qualify for SSDI are 90 days of documented signs, symptoms, lab tests, and response to treatments. If you’re getting hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis and need dialysis for 12 months or more, you may meet eligibility for disability benefits. Additionally, if you get a kidney transplant, you’re considered disabled for one year from the date of the transplant. After that time, you’ll be re-evaluated.
Impairments that cause dysfunction in the immune system, including autoimmune disorders, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and other immune deficiency disorders, are evaluated in this category. Examples in this category include lupus, systemic vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis, Scleroderma, Sjögren's Syndrome, Lyme disease, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID), and HIV.
Immune-related disability claims are evaluated on the frequency and severity of infections, complications, and the need for aggressive treatment. Your symptoms, like pain, severe fatigue, and malaise, and how your immune disorders affect your ability to work and do daily tasks, are evaluated.
All cancers (neoplasms) except those connected to HIV are evaluated for disability in this category. Leukemia, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lung cancer are types of cancer that may qualify you for long-term disability insurance.
Much consideration goes into the SSA’s evaluation of cancers, including the effects of therapies, their negative effects, and associated complications. Being in remission doesn’t automatically disqualify you from SSDI. You may no longer qualify after you’ve been in remission for three years. However, the SSA considers residual impairments caused by the cancer and side effects of treatments in your re-evaluation.
Severe burns and chronic inflammatory skin conditions like eczema, ichthyosis, bullous disease, psoriasis, and hidradenitis suppurativa are skin disorders considered for disability.
Your medical records, severity of skin disorders, severe sensitivity to sunlight, family history, and statements from you and people who know you are all evaluated as evidence to support skin-related claims.
Non-cancerous hematological disorders, thrombosis and hemostasis, and bone marrow failure disorders may qualify for disability under this category. Sickle cell disease and other anemias, hemophilia, and disorders treated by bone marrow or stem cell transplants are examples of hematological disorders.
Lab tests, doctors’ reports, hospitalizations, and complications from blood disorders are evaluated to determine whether blood-related conditions qualify for disability benefits. If you have a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, you’ll be considered disabled for 12 months following the date of the transplant.
Your condition may be eligible for disability even if it’s not listed in the SSA Blue Book. The SSA will still evaluate the severity of your impairment based on whether you can work at an SGA level, your medical records, and your Residual Functional Capacity (RFC), which looks at your physical and mental abilities despite limitations.
It’s normal to feel overwhelmed or confused about whether your condition qualifies for disability and the evidence needed for proof. Advocate can help answer your questions and tackle the application process.
Physical and mental impairments that stop you from engaging in SGA that will last for at least 12 months or are expected to result in death are classified as disabilities.
For an SSDI application, you need detailed and accurate medical records that show the severity of your condition, treatment history, and how the condition(s) impact your ability to work as defined by SGA. However, you don’t need the evidence in your possession. The SSA contacts medical sources for records, so make sure your medical contact information is correct.
Yes, you can apply for disability with multiple conditions that prevent or limit your ability to work.
Although some claims are processed more quickly, the SSDI initial application process generally takes six to eight months. If your claim is approved in the first application stage, you’ll have a five-month waiting period before receiving monthly Social Security benefits. If it is denied, the appeals process can take months to over a year at each stage.
All of the disorders discussed above are common conditions of disabled people who get SSDI.
Sources:
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