The Special Senses and SpeechDisorders Listing covers a wide variety of illnesses including:

2.00 Special Senses and Speech

2.01 Category of Impairments, Special Senses and Speech

2.02 Loss of visual acuity

2.03 Contraction of the visual field in the better eye

2.04 Loss of visual efficiency

2.05

2.06

2.07 Disturbance of labyrinthine-vestibular function (including Meniere’s disease)

2.08 Hearing impairments (hearing not restorable by a hearing aid)

2.09 Loss of speech due to any cause, with inability to produce by any means speech that can be heard, understood, or sustained.

Subpart 2.00 contains background information including the following:

2. How do we define statutory blindness? Statutory blindness is blindness as defined in sections 216(i)(1) and 1614(a)(2) of the Social Security Act (the Act). The Act defines blindness as visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens. We use your bestcorrected visual acuity for distance in the better eye when we determine if this definition is met. The Act also provides that an eye that has a visual field limitation such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees is considered as having visual acuity of 20/200 or less. You have statutory blindness only if your visual disorder meets the criteria of 2.02 or 2.03A. You do not have statutory blindness if your visual disorder medically equals the criteria of 2.02 or 2.03A, or if it meets or medically equals 2.03B, 2.03C, or 2.04. If your visual disorder medically equals the criteria of 2.02 or 2.03A, or if it meets or medically equals 2.03B, 2.03C, or 2.04, we will find that you have a disability if your visual disorder also meets the duration requirement

3. What evidence do we need to establish statutory blindness under title XVI? For title XVI, the only evidence we need to establish statutory blindness is evidence showing that your visual acuity in your better eye or your visual field in your better eye meets the criteria in 2.00A2, provided that those measurements are consistent with the other evidence in your case record. We do not need to document the cause of your blindness. Also, there is no duration requirement for statutory blindness under title XVI (see §§416.981 and 416.983).

Subparts 2.02-2.09 address listings for specific types of special senses and speech disorders. For example, Subpart 2.07 covers Disturbance of labyrinthine-vestibular function and reads as follows:

2.07 Disturbance of labyrinthine-vestibular function (including Meniere’s disease), characterized by a history of frequent attacks of balance disturbance, tinnitus, and progressive loss of hearing. With both A and B:

A. Disturbed function of vestibular labyrinth demonstrated by caloric or other vestibular tests; and

B. Hearing loss established by audiometry.

For the complete Listing of Impairments, including Special Senses and SpeechDisorders, please visit:

http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/404/404-ap10.htm

Remember, meeting or equaling a medical listing is one way to win your social security claim. You can win even if you do not meet a listing, and most people do not meet a listing.

If your application for social security disability benefits has been denied, you should obtain legal representation. You can contact the law firm of Casciano Law Group at (301) 563-6685 for a free consultation.