My significant other went blind this week.

[happyslug]

35. First thing is apply for Social Security Disability,

He or she should have paid Self Employment tax and as such paid into Social Security which includes disability for people who become disabled and have a work history.

If her/his eyesight is now less then 20/200 in her/his better eye then it will be almost automatic. That is the listing for blindness. i.e. automatic ruling that he or she is disabled, no other consideration is done is such cases.

If her/his eyesight is better then 20/200 in the better eye, he/she may still be ruled disabled for she/he is over age 55. At age 55 a person is eligible for Social Security Disability unless she/he can do past work (i.e work he or she has done in the last 15 years, and it does not sound like he/she can NOT), AND they can still do Medium jobs (i.e. frequent lifting of 25 pounds, occasional lifting of 50 pounds). If her/his eyesight is bad, but NOT 20/200 her/his ability to do such medium work is limited. Light (Defined as lifting 20 pounds frequently, 10 pounds occasionally or on one's feet more the 2 hours a day) and Sedentary work (defined as not being on one feet more then 2 hours a day AND lifting no more then 10 pounds).

Second, apply to your states Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. All states have such offices, it was part of the Social Security Act and most of the funding comes from the Federal Government, but operated by the States. Most times they dislike dealing with people over age 50, but apply the worse they can say is no.

Side note: Technically you start getting Social Security on the sixth month after you became disabled (if you apply for it before that date). This six month delay was in the original Social Security Act for in the 1930s, it wa believed that such a time period was needed to set up some one getting Social Security. Congress has never reduced this time period even as computers sped up the process.

On the other hand, during that six month period you can get Supplemental Security Income (SSI). SSI was set up in 1974 to help those people who were disabled but NOT eligible for Social Security Disability. SSI payment in 2014 is $721.00 a month (less any other income including Social Security).

Do to the difference is when a person can be eligible for Social Security Disability AND SSI, people can be eligible for both programs at different times during their disability.

That may be the situation in this case. For the first six months after the onset of a disability you are NOT eligible for Social Security do to the above mentioned six months delay. On the other hand SSI has NO SUCH DELAY but you can only get SSI from date of application NOT from date of disability plus six months (Which can be BEFORE the date of application for Social Security Disability). i.e you get SSI of $721 for six months (actually two months, SSI goes up in January to $733 a month, thus you would get $733 Starting January 2015). On the sixth month you are disabled, Social Security Disability will kick in and the SSI amount will drop to Zero (Unless the disability amount is less then the SSI amount, then the SSI is reduced by the amount of Social Security disability you get).