Special Senses and Speech
Conditions affecting vision, hearing, balance, speech
What it covers
Vision loss (difficulty seeing details, limited peripheral vision), hearing loss (difficulty hearing/understanding speech), loss of speech, balance disorders (like Ménière's disease with frequent attacks and hearing loss).
What SSA looks for
Specific test results are key. Vision: Measured vision worse than 20/200 in the better eye (with correction), or a very limited field of vision (statutory blindness). Even less severe vision loss might qualify based on specific measurements. Hearing: Significant hearing loss in both ears measured by hearing tests, or very poor ability to understand spoken words. Cochlear implants qualify for 1 year automatically. Speech: Inability to speak in a way that can be heard and understood.
