If you’ve been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and are struggling to keep up at work, you may be entitled to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. One of the most common — and most underestimated – paths to qualification is the impact of tremors, rigidity, and slowed movement on fine motor function.
How Parkinson’s Affects Your Ability to Work
The combination of resting tremors, muscle stiffness, and bradykinesia can make tasks nearly every job requires – typing, writing, handling documents, grasping objects – difficult or impossible to perform consistently.
What matters to Social Security isn’t whether you can use your hands occasionally, but whether you can do so on a regular and continuing basis. Many Parkinson’s patients also experience unpredictable “off” periods when medication isn’t working optimally and symptoms spike, and that inconsistency itself can support a strong SSDI claim.
What Social Security Looks For
Parkinson’s is evaluated under Listing 11.06 (Parkinsonian Syndrome) in the Social Security Blue Book. Even if your condition doesn’t meet the listing exactly, documented limitations in handling and fine motor function can significantly narrow the range of jobs you’re considered capable of performing, strengthening your overall claim. Strong medical records from a neurologist or movement disorder specialist – particularly notes that connect your symptoms to specific functional limitations – are essential.
Talk to a Michigan SSDI Attorney
At Bahrie Law, PLLC, we help clients in Lansing, Livonia, and throughout Michigan build well-documented SSDI claims for Parkinson’s disease.
Call us today for a free consultation: 888-473-1289.