Special Senses and Speech and Social Security Disability
Vision, hearing, and speech disorders that can limit communication or safe performance of work.
Adult Listing 2.00 includes loss of central visual acuity under 2.02, visual-field loss under 2.03, loss of visual efficiency under 2.04, disturbance of labyrinthine-vestibular function under 2.07, loss of speech under 2.09, hearing loss without cochlear implantation under 2.10, and hearing loss treated with cochlear implantation under 2.11. These listings use specific medical and functional criteria. When an impairment does not meet or medically equal a listing, SSA considers its remaining communication, safety, visual, hearing, balance, or other functional effects through residual functional capacity.
Browse the hearing and vision guides below, or return to the Disability Conditions Center.
Official SSA resource: Listing 2.00 — Special Senses and Speech
Special Senses and Speech condition guides
- Hearing Loss
SSA evaluates hearing loss under Listing 2.10 when it is not treated with cochlear implantation and under Listing 2.11 when a cochlear implant is involved. When the listing criteria are not met, SSA considers documented communication, safety, and other work-related limitations.
- Vision Impairment
SSA evaluates visual disorders under Listings 2.02, 2.03, and 2.04. Statutory blindness has a specific legal definition and is not the same as every listing-level visual disorder.
- Cerebral Palsy
Adult Listing 11.07 evaluates cerebral palsy through extreme motor limitation, a marked physical limitation together with a marked limitation in one specified area of mental functioning, or significant interference with communication due to a speech, hearing, or visual deficit. If the listing is not met, SSA considers the remaining functional limitations.
- Diabetes
Diabetes has no standalone adult listing. SSA evaluates its documented effects on other body systems and the combined functional limits those complications cause.
- Down Syndrome
Listing 10.06 applies to non-mosaic Down syndrome documented through the listing's karyotype or alternate physician-report pathways. Mosaic Down syndrome and other congenital disorders affecting multiple body systems are evaluated under the listings for the body systems affected and through the remaining disability evaluation when necessary.
- Stroke
SSA evaluates stroke as vascular insult to the brain under Listing 11.04. The listing uses three-month persistence criteria for its communication, motor, and combined physical-and-mental pathways, while SSA's neurological guidance allows an earlier decision in some cases when the available evidence is sufficient.
- Thyroid Disorders
There is no adult listing titled thyroid disease. Listing 9.00 evaluates thyroid disorders by their effects on other body systems—heart rhythm, weight, stroke, vision, or mood—not by a TSH value alone.
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This page is general educational information about Social Security Disability as of the date of this publication. It is not legal or medical advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and does not guarantee results. Eligibility depends on individual facts and current Social Security rules.
