The Listing of Impairments: How to Meet It

For more information about the Sequential Evaluation Process, contact an experienced Charlotte disability attorney at Bridgman Law Offices: 704-815-6055.

The third step of the Social Security Sequential Evaluation Process involves the Listing of Impairments, which is a set of medical criteria for what constitutes disability, specified in the Social Security disability regulations. This is one of the most technical aspects of disability qualification, and you might want to ask a Charlotte disability attorney how your impairment will be reviewed at this step.

To be found disabled at this step, your medical symptoms and signs must meet or “medically equal” one of the set of medical symptoms and signs found in the Listing of Impairments. If your impairment is not in the Listing of Impairments, your Charlotte disability attorney can argue that your impairments are medically equivalent to something that is found in the Listings. You might want to do this in four circumstances:

• You do not have one of the essential findings listed for your impairment, but you do have other findings.
• Your impairment has all the essential findings listed, but one of them (or more) is not severe enough to qualify.
• Your impairment is not found in the Listings, but it may be analogous to another impairment that appears in the Listings.
• You have several impairments that don’t meet the Listings, but when combined could still equal the Listings.

The SSA will need to review the opinion of a medical expert hired by them in order to find that your impairment medically equals a Listed Impairment.

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For more information about the Sequential Evaluation Process, contact an experienced Charlotte disability attorney at Bridgman Law Offices: 704-815-6055.