Giving Compass' Take:

• The Work Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB) is a new tool that can help decipher a person's disabilities and the corresponding benefits that they will need to keep them sustainably employed. 

• The author points out that determining eligibility for disability benefits can be difficult. This tool could help immensely in picking up and understanding the nuances of changing work and health conditions.

• Learn about the ways that states are helping people with disabilities break into government jobs. 

Every year, millions of workers experience a new work-limiting condition or serious health shock. Some of these workers will experience a permanent or long-term disability that leads them to file for Social Security disability benefits, while others will try to continue working.

For workers who apply for Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income benefits, the Social Security Administration (SSA) faces a tough challenge in accurately determining their eligibility for benefits. And for those who try to continue working, it can be even more challenging to identify the best strategy to help them return to work and stay employed.

A new tool, the Work Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB), could help in both cases. The tool aims to provide a more complete picture of a person’s functional abilities. As our new brief explains, the WD-FAB could help inform SSA’s decisions about workers who need disability benefits and could help target interventions to keep people with disabilities employed.

The WD-FAB uses item response theory (PDF) and computer adaptive testing to quickly interview people and systematically map their self-reported functioning across eight physical and mental health domains, including basic mobility and communication and cognition.

When a worker applies to the SSA for disability benefits, assessing and determing eligibility is difficult. The SSA must determine a person’s ability to engage in work, which often requires evaluating more than just the health condition and impairment; the SSA must also make a judgment on how a person’s functional ability interacts with their environment.

Most workers who experience a new health condition are able to manage the condition and stay employed in the short term. But within two years, workers with a new health condition are three times more likely to have left the work force. Some workers who experience a new health shock receive services provided by their employers, but many other workers don’t have access to either public or private assistance.

Read the full article about helping workers with disabilities stay employed by Jack Smalligan and Diane Brandt at Urban Institute.