Does your age matter when applying for Social Security Disability?
Age can be a factor when it comes to deciding the outcome of your Social Security Disability case. Social Security has to consider age, because that is what the Social Security Act requires. As people get older, they become less adaptable, less able to switch to different jobs to cope with health problems. A severe back injury which might cause a 25 year old to switch to a job in which he or she can sit down most of the time, whereas a 60 year old person who could not make the adjustment to a different type of work. It is much more difficult for a person 49 and under to be approved for SSD or SSI than a person 50 or older. The Social Security disability regulations provide that the Commissioner will not apply the age categories mechanically in a "borderline situation." 20 C.F.R. § 404.1563(a). The Commissioner considers a borderline situation to exist "when there would be a shift in results caused by the passage of a few days or months." Social Security Ruling 8...