How to partly claim disability?

December 28, 2008 7:14 PM

Question about being declared disabled but not receiving SSI benefits.

A family member has had an accident in the past year and his doctor confirms that he would officially be classified as disabled. He has had a long recuperation and had worked hard to get over his injuries. Besides the 'disabled' classification, he is able to work and owns his own business. He plans to continue working and can easily make the modifications to his business that he needs to continue his job. Here is the tricky part. How can he be declared disabled but not receive any SSI benefits. He has lost contracts in the past because his business isn't owned by a minority or person with a disability. Now that he has a disability, what are the steps to get that classification just for business purposes. Everything that we have researched is in reference to getting the SSI benefits. He CAN work so doesn't want to take those unfairly. He just wants to get the disabled classification in order to be eligible for some of these contracts that come up. Any advice or guidence would help. This is in Georgia. Thank you.

posted by anonymous to law & government (5 comments total)

IANAL, but my Dad is - he's actually a social security/disability claimant's representative (I think that's the title) and has been for a couple decades. I had him look at this question, and his answer was: "I don't know."

His more expanded answer was this: that there are a bunch of different definitions of "disabled." There's a definition of disabled for SSI benefits, there's a definition of disabled for disabled parking permits, et cetera. There's probably also a definition of "disabled" for these contracts, and you just need to ask whoever's in charge of administrating them to track down what that definition is. [Sorry he can't be more specific - he's been doing this for a long time, but has never gotten this question before.]
posted by ewingpatriarch at 7:35 PM on December 28, 2008

The program that helps minority- women- and disabled-owned businesses is called the 8(a) Business Development Program. It is under the Small Business Administration. This page has information.
posted by Houstonian at 7:43 PM on December 28, 2008

As far as I'm aware, the SBA 8(a) program only targets "socially and economically disadvantaged" persons. "Socially disadvantaged" is defined fairly rigorously, and unless you're a member of an ethnic minority, you need to show a physical handicap and negative impact on your business advancement as a result of that handicap. It doesn't sound like your relative qualifies.

The only circumstances where having a physical disability automatically gets you preference in government contracts is if you are a service-disabled veteran, i.e. a member of the armed services who received their disability in the course of their duties. That's a different program entirely, but a citizen, even a soldier, who is injured in a car accident on their own time wouldn't qualify anyways.

IANAL, and IANYL, but it doesn't appear to me that your family member would qualify for any disability programs, as their ability to work is unimpaired.
posted by valkyryn at 7:58 PM on December 28, 2008

Nobody just gets awarded SSI, you have to apply for it and the application process is fairly rigorous, especially in the case of physical disabilities where you have to prove that you can't even perform a sitting job (i.e., you're essentially bed-ridden). You can be physically disabled and be way shy of qualifying for SSI, obvs, there are thousands of disabled people in the work force performing all kinds of different jobs every day.
posted by The Straightener at 8:23 PM on December 28, 2008

Doctors can't officially classify someone as disabled. They can offer their professional opinion, which could be taken into consideration by a government agency when determining if someone is disabled. There are many, many definitions of disabled in the law, but I your dad clearly does not meet the definition for SSI or SSDI, which is unable to engage in substantial gainful activity. Your dad is working and owns his own business, so is without question engaging in substantial gainful activity.
posted by Mavri at 7:40 AM on December 29, 2008