Your Rights to Social Security Disability Benefits and Traumatic Brain Injury

The Social Security Administration uses a five step sequential evaluation to determine entitlement to Social Security Disability benefits. At step three of the five step sequential evaluation, the determination is to whether or not your medical condition meets what is called a specific impairment listing in the blue book.

Section 11.1a of the impairment guide for traumatic brain injury lists the evaluation criteria for traumatic brain injury. Did you know that traumatic brain injury (TBI) is evaluated under convulsive, and non-convulsive epilepsy listings 11.02 and 11.03, a listing for central nervous- accidents (CVA) or stroke, 11.04, organic brain disorder listings 12.02.

The Social Security Administration uses these criteria can traumatic brain injury that can result in both mental and neurological impairments.

Even if your TBI injury does not involve seizures, symptoms including loss of consciousness and awareness may meet or equal the impairment criteria for seizure listings.

Other individuals of TBI have neurological impairment, while others will have impaired brain function and that can cause loss of coordination, motor function, walking speech or communication as a result individuals with those symptoms may be evaluated under neurological listing 11.04 or mental impairment listing 12.02.

12.02 addresses organic mental disorders and these will include cognitive disorders such as disorientation to time and place, memory impairment, perceptual or thinking disturbances like illusions or hallucinations, personality changes, emotional or impulse control issues.

Medical records should be well develop to establish that you meet the organic brain syndrome listings or that, alternatively, you can immediately meet a listing of impairments because you have difficulty with performing basic work activity and other functional issues.

Winning your Social Security Disability case as a result of traumatic brain injury will require the development of medical and lay evidence about problems with functional capability. So, in other words, if you have severe restrictions of activities of daily living, like household chores, shopping, dealing money or financing, making decisions, driving, visiting family, or significant problems in maintain functioning or marked concentration persistence or pace or repeated episodes of decomposition, your likelihood of being approved for disability benefits is even greater.

Working with an experienced Social Security Disability attorney who has experience with traumatic brain injuries will improve your chances of getting Social Security Disability benefits.