Direct answer
How do I know if my condition qualifies for SSDI?
You know your condition qualifies for SSDI when the findings in your medical record meet the SSA Blue Book listing for the impairment, or when your residual functional capacity plus age, education, and past work would leave no jobs you can perform.
Meeting a listing is one path to approval; the other is a medical-vocational finding that the impairment prevents any work when combined with age, education, and past work.
Sourced from ssa.gov — see citations below.
Path 1: Meet a Blue Book listing
Open the Blue Book chapter for the body system, find the listing, and compare each required finding to what is documented in your records.
Path 2: Medical-vocational allowance
If the condition does not exactly meet a listing but limits function enough that no past or other work is possible given age, education, and skills, SSA can approve under the Grid Rules.
What to do next
Request full records from every treating source, get a treating-source function statement, and file — protective filing dates protect benefits from the day the intent to file is recorded.
Topics
Sources
Every figure and rule on this page is drawn from official SSA publications. Verify at the links below.