Individuals often look up their impairment on the Social Security Listing to see if it qualifies for benefits. This gives a false sense of hopelessness because most impairments do not meet the Listing.
The Listings are for catastrophic and very severe diseases which obviously and automatically qualify for benefits, no questions asked. I'd say that 95 percent of all disabled persons do not meet one of the Listings but may still qualify for benefits using a different method.
The Listings are considered early in the determination debate--at Step 3. If an impairment is so severe that it meets the Listing, the process stops here and an award is made for disability.
However, if the claimant does not meet a Listing at Step 3, the discussion continues to Step 4 and Step 5, where a more complicated discussion occurs. At these steps, a claimant must prove that the symptoms of his/her impairment are so severe that no full-time work can be performed. These steps consider not just the medical evidence, but also age, education and past work experience. Residual functional capacity (RFC) comes into play in these later steps.
Bottom Line: You are not likely to qualify for disability at Step 3 using the Listings. However, you may qualify at Step 4 or 5 by showing that you are not able to perform any past work or any other work. You have to work a little harder to get approved without meeting a Listing but it is often done.
The disability process is complicated and confusing. That's why we don't recommend "do it yourself" approaches. Mistakes are easy to make, simple things get overlooked and these errors can cost you the claim. It's well worth getting a disability attorney or representative to work with you.
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