the inability to perform substantial gainful activity (SGA). Blind claimants are eligible for payments even if they are performing SGA, provided the claimant meets the other requirements for eligibility, such as income and resources. NOTE: Blind claimants under Title XVI are not subject to any SGA limitations.
Because of possible payment advantages to Title XVI claimants or recipients found “blind” rather than “disabled,” undertake development for blindness whenever there is a reasonable basis to believe the visual disorder may meet the statutory definition of blindness, even when the medical evidence of record already establishes disability.
EXCEPTION: In initial claims, a disabled claimant who is in a Federal living arrangement D (FLA/D) (i.e., lives in a medical treatment facility where Medicaid pays over 50 percent of the cost of care) is not eligible for any additional benefit amount based on blindness. Do not develop for statutory blindness in this situation.
IMPORTANT: If the claimant is statutorily blind, and the field office (FO) checked DI, DS, or DC in Item 8 of Form SSA-831, change the claim type to BI, BS, or BC, as appropriate. See DI 26010.010.
NOTE: If the issue of blindness arises, the FO may send the folder to the DDS for the blindness determination. See DI 13010.135G and I.
For information on the development and evaluation of presumptive blindness claims, refer to the Presumptive Disability/Blindness instructions in DI 23535.000.
See instructions in DI 23010.040.B. Failure to Follow Prescribed Treatment - Claims for new Title XVI Issues – Blindness Benefits
Under Title XVI, a recipient may elect to change to another type of claim category. A person will generally request a change in category to receive a higher payment, such as changing from disabled to blind. A person may also initially apply as disabled or blind after attaining age 65.
The FO will forward multicategory claims to the disability determination services (DDS) for a disability or blindness determination.
The FO will identify cases by the remark “SSI multicategory case (disability) (blindness) (date)” in Item 11 of Form SSA-831 or Item 5 of Form SSA-3367. This remark will specify the category the claimant has requested and the earliest date for which onset will affect benefits.