Intellectual disability can make it impossible for those living with it to work. Texas residents who live with intellectual disability may be eligible for Social Security disability benefits for mental conditions. People who don’t meet the work requirements for Social Security disability may be eligible for Supplemental Security Income.
The Social Security Administration has criteria for determining whether an applicant is eligible for SSD benefits based on an intellectual disorder. A person may be eligible if they have an IQ score of 70 or lower on a standard IQ test. Alternatively, if a person has an IQ score of 71 to 75 accompanied by a verbal or performance IQ score of 70 or below, they may be eligible.
In addition to the above, a person must also have significant deficits reflected by extreme limitation of one, or marked limitation of two, of the following areas of functioning: interacting with others; concentrating, persisting or maintaining pace; understanding, remembering or applying information; or adapting or managing oneself. Finally, there must be evidence that the disorder began before the claimant turned 22 years of age.
Also, if a person has significantly below average general intellectual functioning demonstrated by their cognitive inability to function at a level required to participate in standardized testing of intellectual functioning, and their deficits in adaptive functioning causes them to be dependent on others for personal needs such as bathing, dressing, toileting and eating, they may be eligible if the disorder began before the claimant turned 22 years old.