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Show Disabled Workers Get Social Security Benefit Some 550,000 disabled workers,! their wives, and minor children are now receiving monthly so- clal security disability benefits totaling $48 million a month, j Many more will be drawing benefits ben-efits soon as a result of the re- cent change In the law providing provid-ing payments to disabled workers work-ers under age 50 and their dependents. de-pendents. Until now, only dis-! dis-! abled workers aged 50 to 65 were eligible for payments. The payment of social security disability Insurance benefits is an Important step In the expansion expan-sion i'.r.d improvement of the social so-cial security system. Twenty-five years, ago, when the original social security law was enacted. It provided only monthly old-age old-age Insurance benefits for workers work-ers In commerce and industry. In 1939, the law was amended and monthly benefits for the families of retired and deceased workers were provided. The program became be-came known as "Federal Old-Age j and Survivors Insurance." In 1956 when the Act was amended to provide monthly disability Insurance Insur-ance benefiti Title II was again changed to .ead "Federal Old-i Old-i Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance." In-surance." Today, the Social Security Act provides monthly benefit protection protec-tion for disabled workers and their families, Just the same as ! for retired workers and their families, and for the families of deceased workers. To qualify for disability Insurance Insur-ance benefits, a worker must be disabled for any substantial gainful work, and he must have worked for a sufficient length of time under the social security program. Only a severe and long-lasting disability counts. The term "disability" "dis-ability" is defined tu the social security law r.s "Inability to engage en-gage in any any substantial gainful activity my reason of any medically determinable physical phy-sical or mental Impairment which can be expected to result In death or to be of long-continued and indefinite duration." Under Un-der this definition, a person may Ii-ve a capacity tot engaging in some kind of substantial work. .It so, he may not be able to get 'social security disability Insurance Insur-ance benefits. The work requirements for entitlement en-titlement to social security disability disa-bility benefits are a little more Strict than the normal requirements require-ments for old-age and survivors insurance. In addition to meet-I meet-I lnr the disability requirements, la disabled worker must have had at least five years work under social security in the ten years prior to the onset of his disability. disabili-ty. The work need not have been 'full time or steady, but it must have been performed in employ-ment employ-ment or self -employment covered !by the social security law. There Is an important feature iof the disability program that I should not be overlooked. Rehabilitation Rehab-ilitation has been stressed by Congress as one of the goals of the social security disability provisions. pro-visions. Applicants for disability insurance benefits are, therefore, referred for possible vocational rehabilitation services. Through thec services, many disabled Individuals In-dividuals are enabled to resume work' In gainful occupation. When a worker becomes seriously ser-iously disabled, with a disability that is considered to be perman. ent or long-lasting, he or a member of his family should contact the nearest social security securi-ty district office to obtain specific speci-fic Information about his possible possi-ble rights under the social security se-curity disability program. Right now, disabled workers under age 50, who have not applied to their social security offices in the past to have their social security records rec-ords frozen, should get In touch with that office now. Payments to them and their dependents cannot begin until they make application. ap-plication. The social security office of-fice in Provo, Utah, is located at 159 West 5th North. A representative represen-tative will be at the Post Office in Cedar City each Monday and Tuesday from 9 a. m. until 3 p. m. In November he will not be there on the 22nd. Those who have already applied ap-plied to have their records "frozen" "froz-en" need not contact their social security office now; they will be notified by mall of what they need to da |