Disability Determination Process Small Grant Program
Objective
Through an extensive network of local field offices and State agencies (usually called Disability Determination Services or DDSs), the Social Security Administration (SSA) makes decisions on over two million Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications annually. Building on prior agency efforts to improve the efficiency of the disability determination process and reduce the initial claims backlog, SSA launched the Disability Determination Process Small Grant Program in 2011. Administered by Policy Research, Inc. (PRI), the small grant program provided $10,000 stipends to support approved graduate-level research that could inform and improve SSA’s determination process.
Status
The Disability Determination Process Small Grant Program was completed in August 2017 with the issuance of a final project report.
Disability Determination Process Small Grant Program participants were recruited through graduate program list-servs, forums, professional organizations, and research publications. At the beginning of each program year, PRI staff compiled a summary of all proposals for submission to SSA. Once an initial list of viable proposals was selected, teams of expert reviewers from around the country evaluated proposals using three criteria—proposal quality, SSA’s priorities, and potential usefulness to the disability field. Through multiple reviewing rounds culminating in a virtual meeting of all reviewers, a final ranking was determined and submitted back to SSA for final approval decisions. Upon approval, awarded students began what was, for most, a year-long research project. Between 2012 and 2017, 36 Masters and PhD-level students partnered with mentoring faculty at 27 colleges and universities. Participants represented a range of academic disciplines, including Sociology, Psychology, Medicine, Public Health Disability Determination Process, Economics, and Social Work. Fifty-five proposals were accepted resulting in 49 successfully completed research projects with topics ranging from the impact of stigma on claims application rates of Veterans to the development of a database intended to help SSA staff identify appropriate jobs for SSDI claimants.
The Disability Determination Process Small Grant Program created opportunities for graduate students to engage in and potentially publish funded research while providing potentially valuable information to SSA, other researchers, and the public concerning SSA’s disability evaluation process. At the end of the program’s sixth and final year, PRI reached out to all former participants to learn what subsequent steps they had taken with their research. Sixty-eight percent of participants responded. Fifty-two percent of those respondents had published their research and 67 percent had presented their research at academic conferences, professional organizations, and community events. SSA’s experience with the Disability Determination Process Small Grant Program gave rise to a new agency initiative – the Analyzing Relationships between Disability, Rehabilitation and Work Small Grant Program (ARDRAW). ARDRAW builds on the Disability Determination Process Small Grant Program structure, but with a new prioritization of research on SSA’s work incentives and employment supports.
Not applicable.