Visual Impairments
Visual impairment can force a complete overhaul of your life — and the SSA provides benefits when it prevents work.
What you need to know about visual impairments.
Losing the ability to see is a tremendously difficult, emotional experience. While vision impairment or loss causes people to overhaul their lifestyles and adapt to new conditions, the financial hardships imposed by an inability to work force visually impaired people to worry how they can pay the bills, support a family, or continue living a comfortable lifestyle they had before the vision loss.
Nobody should have to face this level of hardship. For these reasons, among others, the Social Security Administration (SSA) provides benefits for those with visual impairments. Nevertheless, applying for benefits can be a complicated process — and if you cannot work because of a visual impairment, you need the help of a prominent disability attorney in Houston.
What counts as a visual impairment.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), visual impairment is the functional limitation of the eye or eyes or the visual system. It can include one or more of the following:
- Loss of visual acuity — inability to see objects as clearly as a healthy person
- Loss of visual field — inability to see as wide an area as the average person without moving the eyes or turning the head
- Photophobia — inability to look at light
- Diplopia — double vision
- Visual distortion of images
- Visual perceptual difficulties
- Any combination of the above features
Help in the Houston area.
The definition of visual impairment implies that impaired eyesight cannot be corrected to a normal level through eyeglasses, contacts, or surgery. If you have experienced diminishing eyesight, several organizations and non-profits throughout the Houston area can provide more information — for example, the Lighthouse of Houston provides education programs and community services for the blind and visually impaired. The DARS Division for Blind Services is another helpful resource.
For legal matters, however, you need a Houston disability lawyer capable of navigating the complicated waters associated with disability benefits. From helping you through all the documentation required for the application to aggressively defending your case, the attorneys at Herren Law leave no stones unturned when trying to win you disability benefits.
SSDI and SSI for vision loss.
The Social Security Administration has two programs that offer disability benefits. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) depends on your work history — if you have worked enough in the past, in what the SSA calls "work credits," you can qualify for SSDI. The other program, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), refers to benefits based on qualifying financial requirements.
With regards to vision impairment, you must prove to the SSA that vision loss has dramatically affected your ability to work. Whether or not you receive benefits may depend on the severity of your vision loss. In many cases, the SSA evaluates the vision in your better eye to determine the level of impairment. Individuals legally blind in both eyes often face few complications when applying for SSD.
Information to include in your application.
Applying for Social Security Disability benefits can be a long and arduous affair. The SSA matches the severity of your visual impairment with your past work history, your income, and other resource criteria, and compares this against its eligibility requirements.
- Information regarding your previous work history for the past 15 years before you became unable to work — including daily duties and why employment ended
- Detailed reports regarding your visual impairment
- Contact information for the doctors, hospitals, and other medical sources you have used
- Dates of treatment and the kinds of treatment you have received
- Names of prescription and non-prescription medications and the doctors who prescribed them
- The kind of medical tests you've had — when, where, and who sent you to take them
What happens next.
It is absolutely critical to include all the necessary paperwork — missing or incomplete paperwork can lead to an outright denial. After turning in your paperwork, the Disability Determination Services (DDS), a State agency, begins a three-to-four-month investigation. Within this process, the DDS generally contacts doctors, hospitals, schools, teachers, therapists, relatives, and others.
If your disability is severe enough — such as legal blindness — the SSA can make a presumptive blindness determination and begin paying you while the DDS makes its final decision.
Affordable, experienced help you can trust.
Herren Law does not charge a fee for a consultation, and we work on a contingency basis — you do not owe us anything unless you receive benefits.
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