Multiple Sclerosis and Disability Benefits in Oregon

How Do You Qualify for Disability for Multiple Sclerosis in Oregon?

Social Security has specific medical requirements for multiple sclerosis under Listing 11.09 of its “Blue Book,” the agency’s official listing of impairments.

This listing recognizes that MS can affect both physical and mental functioning. Social Security provides two main ways to meet the listing’s medical requirements.

Path 1: The first method requires you to document significant problems with motor function in two extremities, such as both legs, both arms or an arm and a leg.

Your MS must cause an extreme limitation in your ability to stand up from a seated position, maintain balance while standing or walking, or use your upper extremities.

Path 2: The second way involves a combination of physical and mental limitations. Under this part of the listing, you must have a marked limitation in physical functioning and a marked limitation in at least one of the following:

• Understanding, remembering or applying information
• Interacting with other people
• Concentrating, staying on task or maintaining a consistent pace
• Adapting to changes around you and managing your emotions and behavior

Social Security uses the term marked to describe a serious limitation in functioning. It does not necessarily mean you are completely unable to perform the activity, but the limitation must significantly interfere with your ability to function independently and consistently.

This means that someone with MS may qualify under the listing because of severe physical limitations or a qualifying combination of physical and cognitive difficulties.

Need help understanding how your case fits these rules? The Oregon disability lawyers at Wells, Manning, Eitenmiller & Taylor can talk it over with you free of charge.

Get a FREE disability claim consultation.

You Meet the Disability Qualifications for MS, but How Do You Prove It?

How do you prove that your multiple sclerosis is severe enough for Social Security Disability?

Your medical records are extremely important. Social Security needs evidence documenting your diagnosis, symptoms, treatment and functional limitations.

Evidence that may help support your multiple sclerosis disability claim includes:

• Medical records from your neurologist and other treating providers
• MRI results documenting changes associated with MS
• Neurological examinations showing problems with strength, coordination, balance or sensation
• Documentation of vision problems or other neurological complications
• Records of relapses, hospitalizations or significant changes in your condition
• Information about medications, treatments and your response to them
• Medical opinions explaining how your symptoms limit your physical or cognitive functioning

An important part of an MS disability claim is showing how your condition affects you over time. Records documenting the frequency, duration and severity of your symptoms help demonstrate the full picture of your limitations.

At Wells, Manning, Eitenmiller & Taylor, we can help identify the medical evidence needed to support your multiple sclerosis disability claim.

Our disability attorneys are skilled at presenting the full history of your condition, especially when your symptoms fluctuate or your limitations are not immediately apparent from a medical examination.

Your Disability Claim for MS Isn’t Just About Symptoms—It’s About Work

You may still qualify for disability benefits even if your multiple sclerosis does not meet every requirement of Social Security’s medical listing.

In these situations, Social Security can evaluate your residual functional capacity (RFC) to determine what work activities you are still capable of performing despite your condition.

This is particularly important for MS because the symptoms can affect your ability to work in several different ways. A strong multiple sclerosis disability claim needs to connect your medical evidence with the practical demands of working.

Social Security may consider limitations involving:

• Fatigue: Whether exhaustion interferes with your ability to complete a normal workday without frequent breaks or extended rest
• Mobility: Whether muscle weakness, balance problems or difficulty walking limits your ability to stand, move around or perform physical tasks
• Vision: Whether blurred vision, double vision or other visual disturbances affect activities such as reading, driving or using a computer
• Cognitive functioning: Whether problems with memory, concentration or processing information interfere with your ability to follow instructions and complete tasks
• Hand coordination: Whether weakness, tremors or reduced dexterity interferes with typing, writing, handling objects or using tools
• Other MS symptoms: Whether bladder problems, pain, heat sensitivity or other complications interfere with your ability to maintain a predictable work schedule

One of the most important questions is whether you can perform work activities consistently.

Being physically capable of performing certain tasks does not necessarily mean you can maintain regular employment.

Social Security will also consider whether you can return to your previous work or adjust to another type of job. Your age, education, work experience and transferable skills all matter when claims examiners make that determination.

Your records should help establish not only what MS symptoms you experience, but also how those symptoms affect your employment.

Social Security also has non-medical rules you must meet. For Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), you must have a qualifying history of working and paying into the system. For Supplemental Security Income (SSI), you must show that you have few economic resources to fall back on.

An experienced disability attorney can make a difference in your effort to secure financial relief.

Living with MS can be exhausting enough without having to fight through the Social Security Disability application process, so Wells, Manning, Eitenmiller & Taylor steps in to ease your burden.

We can help you gather and organize medical evidence, document the progression of your condition and present a clear picture of how your symptoms interfere with your ability to work.

If Social Security has already denied your MS disability claim, we can review the decision, identify issues with the evidence and help you pursue an appeal.

Our attorneys have more than 60 years of combined experience in disability law.

When you work with us, you work directly with an attorney from the beginning of your case. You will not be shuffled between different people or have to explain your health problems over and over.

Your lawyer will take the time to listen, understand your situation and stay with you throughout the disability claims process.

Multiple sclerosis changes what your future looks like, but you should not have to face financial uncertainty and a complicated disability system without help.

If you’re in Eugene-Springfield, Albany, Roseburg, Coos Bay, Medford, Grants Pass or anywhere in Oregon and MS has taken away your ability to work—contact Wells, Manning, Eitenmiller & Taylor.