15. What if my impairments do not meet the EAEDC standards or SSI listings?

If your physical impairments do not meet or equal an EAEDC medical standard or SSI listing, the EAEDC rules require DES to use the following process to decide if you are disabled, see 106 C.M.R. § 703.191(G), § 703.193(C). This is a summary of the five steps. A detailed description of each step is found at Questions 16-20.

Step 1

DES first decides if you have an impairment or combination of impairments that affects your ability to do basic work activities.

If yes, and your impairment is physical (or you have both physical and mental health impairments), go to Step Two. If you have a mental health impairment, go to Step Five. If no, you are not disabled for EAEDC.

      Step 2

DES next decides if you can do full-time sedentary (sitting) jobs. If you physically cannot do even sitting jobs, you are disabled. 106 C.M.R. § 703.193(C)(1). If DES decides you can do most kinds of sitting jobs, go to Step Three.

      Step 3

DES next decides if you can only do full-time sedentary jobs, or if you can also do jobs that require lots of standing, walking or lifting.

If you can only do sitting (sedentary) jobs, DES looks at a chart called a "Grid" that says whether you will be considered disabled based on your age, education, and work experience. 106 C.M.R. § 703.193(C)(4) and (5). See Appendix D.

The Grid decides if you are or are not disabled. If the Grid says you are disabled, you are EAEDC eligible. 106 C.M.R. § 703.193(C)(5). If the Grid says you are disabled but DES also decides that you can do more than just a sitting job, go to Step Four.

If the Grid says you are not disabled, go to Step Five if you also have a mental impairment.

      Step 4

If you can do more than sedentary jobs, even if the Grid says you are disabled, DES does not accept the Grid. DES does a further review to decide if you are disabled based on other vocational factors. 106 C.M.R. § 703.193(C)(6).

DES looks to see if you are disabled based on the physical activity you can do, your age, your education and skills, and whether jobs exist in the northeast region that you could do. If DES decides that you are not disabled based on your physical condition alone, and you also have a mental health impairment, go to Step Five.

Step 5

If you have a mental health impairment (or a physical impairment that DES doesn't consider disabling by itself), DES will look at a list of factors to decide if you are disabled based on the activity you can do, your impairments and limitations, your age, your education and skills, your past work experience, and whether jobs exist in the northeast region that you could do. 106 C.M.R. § 703.193(D). See Question 20.