Social security attorneys are often asked can I get disability if I have: cancer, Aids, multiple sclerosis, brain surgery, back injuries, heart attacks, heart bypasses, schizophrenia, bi-polar, a stroke, diabetes, seizures, or any number of conditions. The response is that people win with all these conditions. On the other hand, there are also people who have any of these conditions who lose daily.

So what is the difference? A condition like cancer Aids or brain surgery is obviously often disabling. However, just having this condition alone is not sufficient to win even if it is fairly certain to lead to death in a few years. What counts is how the condition affects your ability to sustain full time employment in the national economy of a type that is determined by your age, education and occupational history as these factors determine what types of jobs you have to rule out in addition to your past work which you always must show that you cannot do. Certain folks with serious conditions such as cancer and Aids will be found disabled if they cannot do their past work on a full time basis or other lighter or different work according to what jobs the regulations require them to rule out. In short no matter what the condition you must show how it limits you functionally.