Disability for Vision Loss. Acuity, visual fields, and the rules for blindness.

How Social Security evaluates vision loss

Visual acuity. The listing is met when vision in the better eye, after best correction, is 20/200 or worse.

Visual field. The listing is met when the field in the better eye is narrowed to 20 degrees or less at its widest diameter, or when automated testing shows a mean deviation of 22 decibels or worse, or a visual field efficiency of 20 percent or less.

Combined loss. A third listing applies when acuity and field loss together reduce visual efficiency in the better eye to 20 percent or less.

Vision of 20/200 or worse in the better eye, or a field of 20 degrees or less, also meets the legal definition of blindness. Special rules then apply, including a higher monthly earnings limit.

When no listing is met

Most claims are decided on residual functional capacity: what you can still do in a work setting despite your symptoms. Social Security then asks whether any jobs fit those limits. For vision loss, the limits are reading print and screens, depth perception, avoiding hazards, driving, and working with small objects.

Evidence that matters

• Eye examinations with best-corrected acuity for each eye.
• Automated visual field testing, such as Humphrey 30-2 or 24-2.
• Diagnosis and cause: glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, or other.
• Records of surgery, injections, or laser treatment.
• Notes on how vision affects reading, walking, and driving.

Ask your doctor to complete the physical impairments form in our free doctor forms. It records your limits in the terms Social Security uses.

Why these claims are denied

• Acuity measured without best correction.
• Good vision in one eye. Loss of one eye alone does not meet a listing.
• Visual field testing of a type Social Security does not accept.
• Practical limits not described.

Vision in one eye

Losing sight in one eye does not meet a listing, but it limits depth perception and side vision. Those limits rule out some work, and combined with age or other conditions they can support an award.

If you are 50 or older

Under Social Security’s grid rules, a person limited to sedentary work at 50, or light work at 55, may be found disabled depending on education and past work.

Next steps

If you have been denied, you have 60 days to appeal. See what to do after a denial in Arizona, SSDI in Arizona, and SSI in Arizona. There is no fee unless benefits are awarded.

J Disability Law Firm, PLLC · Joseph J. Duerst, Attorney · 18444 N. 25th Ave, Suite 420, Phoenix, AZ 85023 · (602) 607-0000. This page is general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different. Past results do not predict the outcome of your case.