This article explores the efforts of Social Security planners to establish a disability program in the United States and the history of the program over the past 50 years. It describes how the program has evolved and the internal and external influences that have affected its development.

An outline of the current initiatives—for example, the implementation of the Ticket to Work program and various demonstration projects designed to promote work resumption—undertaken to address the challenges facing SSA's disability programs. The article also contains a summary of the agency's efforts to enhance the efficiency of its administration of the disability programs, including the establishment of an eDib electronic disability folder and the creation of a workgroup to consider ideas for simplifying the SSI program.

Statement by Social Security Commissioner Jo Anne B. Barnhart before the Subcommittee on Social Security, House Committee on Ways and Means, June 15, 2006.

Social Security's Office of the Chief Actuary provides an overview on the current and projected financial condition of the Disability Insurance program.

This summary is designed for those unfamiliar with the many current features of federally sponsored disability and health programs under the Social Security Act, including the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, Medicare, and Medicaid. It also provides an overview of the provisions and operations of the programs.

The Social Security Disability Insurance program was established in 1956. This selected bibliography highlights the research and statistical work that the Social Security Administration (SSA) has done on the subject of disability. It focuses on articles that have appeared in the Social Security Bulletin since 1956 and earlier Bulletin articles about events leading up to the program's establishment. The bibliography also includes ORES Working Papers and disability-related research done by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and the Michigan Retirement Research Center at the University of Michigan funded through grants from SSA.