I have seizures. How do I know if my condition qualifies as a disability?

Social security disability benefits has very specific guidelines for what qualifies as a disability. It is possible for disability seizure benefits to be granted, however you will need to determine if your particular seizure disorder or epilepsy falls within the SSDI guidelines. 

SSDI benefits are available only to those whose disabilities are severe and long term. This means your seizures must be significantly impairing and they must be expected to persist, or have already persisted for a period of no less than 12 months. The SSA specifically addresses seizures, including epilepsy and seizure disorders, within their blue book listing of impairments. This can make it easier to qualify for benefits, if you meet the requirements as described in this list. 

The SSA grants benefits for seizures if:

• Your seizures occur on a frequent enough basis. For convulsive epilepsy, this means you must have at least 1 seizure per month. For nonconvulsive epilepsy, the seizures must occur once per week or more often
• The seizures must also occur at this given frequency when you are on the treatment that a doctor recommends. In other words, if your doctor tries to give you seizure medication, or suggests a surgery, you must comply with the recommended and approved course of treatment. If you decline the medication, then you are not eligible under the SSDI blue book listing of impairments for seizure disorder. 

If you are not eligible on the basis of the listed information for seizures, you may be able to get benefits if you can prove that your problem is medically equivalent (i.e. just as severe as the listed disability) but this becomes harder to do. 

To get help determining if you qualify and for assistance in going through the process to get benefits, you should strongly consider speaking with a lawyer.