Disability Benefits by Medical Condition
We help Arizona claimants pursue Social Security Disability for a wide range of medical conditions. Each condition has its own qualifying criteria, evidence requirements, and legal strategy. Click any condition below to learn how we build winning cases.
Back Pain, Joint, & Chronic Pain Conditions
Musculoskeletal claims are some of the most common — and some of the strictest under SSA's listings. Successful cases require imaging that meets the listing criteria plus documented functional limitations.
Back Pain & Spinal Conditions
Lumbar stenosis, herniated discs, radiculopathy, DDD. Evaluated under Listings 1.15 and 1.16.
View Details →Chronic Pain Disorders
Fibromyalgia, CRPS, post-surgical pain, neuropathic pain. Won through RFC and SSR 16-3p analysis.
View Details →EDS & POTS
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome — multi-system claims.
View Details →Migraine, Stroke, TBI & Seizure Disorders
Neurological disability claims often fail because cognitive, behavioral, or invisible deficits aren't documented in clinical terms SSA accepts. Each of these conditions has a specific listing strategy.
Migraine Headaches
Chronic, hemiplegic, vestibular, cluster, intractable. Evaluated under Listing 11.02 (epilepsy analog).
View Details →Stroke (CVA)
Post-stroke deficits — hemiparesis, aphasia, cognitive impairment. Listing 11.04.
View Details →Traumatic Brain Injury
Cognitive, behavioral, and physical sequelae of TBI. Listing 11.18.
View Details →Seizures & Epilepsy
Generalized, focal, absence, and drug-resistant epilepsy. Listing 11.02.
View Details →Depression, Anxiety, PTSD & Autism
Mental health claims face the highest scrutiny under SSA's paragraph B analysis. Whether depression, PTSD, autism spectrum disorder, or another condition, marked functional limitations must be specifically documented.
Depression, Anxiety & Bipolar
Major depression, generalized anxiety, bipolar, BPD, OCD. Listings 12.04, 12.06, 12.08.
View Details →PTSD & Trauma Disorders
Combat and civilian PTSD. Listing 12.15. Veterans pursuing VA + SSDI in parallel.
View Details →Autism Spectrum Disorder
Adults and children on the spectrum. Listing 12.10 with paragraph B documentation.
View Details →Lupus & Rheumatoid Arthritis
Autoimmune diseases are unpredictable and multi-system. Successful claims capture both objective disease activity and the day-to-day fatigue, pain, and cognitive symptoms that limit work.
Heart Failure & Lung Disease
Cardiac and respiratory claims require objective evidence — ejection fractions, pulmonary function tests, exercise testing. The numbers either meet the listing or they don't.
Diabetes & Complications
SSA removed the standalone diabetes listing in 2011. Successful claims today focus on documented complications — neuropathy, retinopathy, nephropathy, cardiac disease.
Vision Loss & Blindness
Vision-impaired claimants have several special advantages, including a higher SGA threshold ($2,700/month in 2026 vs. $1,620 for non-blind individuals).
Liver Disease & GI Conditions
Listing 5.05 covers chronic liver disease. Approval depends on documented complications: varices, ascites, encephalopathy, or specific lab abnormalities.
All Cancer Types
Many cancers qualify automatically under the Compassionate Allowance program — 280+ conditions approved in weeks rather than years. Knowing whether yours qualifies is the first step.
There are three ways your condition can qualify for disability benefits.
Most claimants don't know which path their case takes — or that the path determines what evidence wins. We help you build the right record for the right pathway.
Meeting a Listing
Your condition matches the specific medical criteria in SSA's Blue Book (Listing of Impairments). Direct approval path.
Medical Equivalence
Your condition is medically equivalent to a listing — same severity, different exact presentation. Common for analogous evaluation.
Medical-Vocational Allowance
Residual functional capacity is so reduced that no work exists in the national economy you can perform. The most common winning path at hearings.
We Handle Hundreds of Other Conditions Too
SSA's Blue Book contains 14 body systems and over 200 specific listings — plus medical-vocational allowance paths for conditions without listings. The pages above are just the conditions we get asked about most. If your condition isn't here, we can almost certainly still help.
General Disability Questions
SSA recognizes hundreds of qualifying conditions across 14 body system listings. Common categories include musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular conditions, mental health disorders, neurological conditions, immune system disorders, and cancer. Conditions without specific listings can still qualify through medical equivalence or a medical-vocational allowance based on functional limitations.
Yes, and you should. SSA evaluates the combined effect of all your medically-determinable impairments. Multiple conditions often produce stronger claims than any single condition alone — even when no individual condition meets a listing by itself.
SSA uses a five-step evaluation: (1) Are you working at SGA level? (2) Is your condition severe? (3) Does it meet or equal a listing? (4) Can you do your past relevant work? (5) Can you do any other work? Most claims are won at step 3 (listing) or step 5 (medical-vocational allowance).
SSA requires your impairment to have lasted, or be expected to last, at least 12 months — or be expected to result in death. You can apply before the 12 months are complete if your doctor expects the condition to continue.
Many conditions without specific listings still qualify through medical equivalence or a medical-vocational allowance. The framework focuses on whether your functional limitations prevent you from sustaining work — not just whether your diagnosis matches a listing.
Both are part of the analysis. At step 4, SSA asks whether you can do your past relevant work. If not, step 5 asks whether any work exists in the national economy you could perform considering your age, education, and limitations. The vocational analysis is critical, especially at hearing.
Initial decisions take 4-8 months. If denied (most are), reconsideration adds 3-6 months. A hearing can take 12-18 months from request. Total wait to a hearing-level approval is often 18-30 months — one major reason to file as early as possible and to retain experienced representation.
Whatever your condition, we can help.
30+ years of experience across every body system SSA recognizes. Tell us about your condition and we'll review your case at no cost.
GET MY FREE CASE REVIEW →Trusted by Arizona Disability Claimants
“Filing for disability was not the option I planned for, I had a work place injury and I tried very hard to get my health back. Brandi Anderson at Desert Disability was very compassionate and understanding. She guided me through the process from start to finish.”
“Outstanding service from the very first time I called Jeff Herman's office. The team was so helpful with explaining everything and basically walking me through the process. I could not be happier with the service I received. Brandi was fantastic!”
“I was treated very well by everyone at Desert Disability. When my claim was denied, they kept pushing and it was eventually approved. Would recommend them to anyone filing for benefits.”
Serving Disability Claimants Across Arizona
Desert Disability represents Social Security Disability claimants throughout Arizona — Scottsdale, Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, and surrounding communities. We work on contingency: no fee unless we win your case.