Having been through exactly what you face, I must say that the only two ways you can even approach the Social Security people with your application/request is to use a dependable lawyer AND a neurologist who has handled you for many years. You definitely will not be able to just go to a Social Security office, fill out a form and expect checks to arrive. It is a shame, I know, but far too many unqualified Americans (some not even citizens) are doing this. But best of luck to you.  I know this isn't an easy part of your life.

Hi azdmartinez,

The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Both SSDI and SSI require a disability severe enough that the disabillity prevents gainful activities (activities like working or holding a job that pays money). SSI requires that a person firstly applies for, and doesn't qualify for, SSDI, but SSDI requires a sufficient amount of timely work history of the person themselves or of persons they are dependent on, meeting SSA guidelines. Applying for SSDI involves some risk, because if a person isn't well prepared to make a good case and doesn't win based on the first application, a second application later will be based on an abridged work history because of the first application. A person can apply for SSI often, but even success with the first try at SSI damages a person's rights to SSDI.

Both SSDI and SSI determines sufficient levels of disabilities by using a "five step procedure that embodies a set of presumptions about disabilities, job availability, and their interrelation. The SSA asks:

Step One: Are you presently working? (If so, you are ineligible.) See 20 CFR §404.1520(b)(1998).

Step Two: Do you have a 'severe impairment,' i.e., one that 'significantly limits' your ability to do basic work activities? (If not, you are ineligible.) See §404.1520(c).

Step Three: Does your impairment 'meet or equal' an impairment on a specific (and fairly lengthy) SSA list? (If so, you are eligible without more.) See §§404.1520(d), 404.1525, 404.1526.

Step Four: If your impairment does not meet or equal a listed impairment, can you perform your 'past relevant work?' (If so, you are ineligible.) See §404.1520(e).

Step Five: If your impairment does not meet or equal a listed impairment and you cannot perform your 'past relevant work,' then can you perform other jobs that exist in significant numbers in the national economy? (If not, you are eligible.) See §§404.1520(f), 404.1560(c)."

from CLEVELAND v. POLICY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS CORP. et al., included at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vo...
(A frequent Catch-22 between ADA and SSDI).

While epilepsy is often severe, and is on the list in Step Three above, the epilepsy has to be severe and the seizures have to be severe and frequent (the seizures not being frequent enough is a common disqualification for an SSA determination of disability).

The side-effects of epilepsy, and the treatments for epilepsy with seizures, often stop "past relevant work," and the painful headaches, poor vision, frequent sore and weak muscles, disrupted sleep patterns, poor balance, inability to think straight, etc. suffered as side-effects of epilepsy, seizures, and treatments are often more disabling than just the epilepsy itself, and these side-effects frequently satisfies Step Five above.

A discussion on the forum here might still be relevant if the feds didn't move the new CFR: http://www.my.epilepsy.com/discussion/985096

I'm not a lawyer nor a medical professional. I'm just an epileptic in the middle of a plethora of Catch-22's.

Tadzio