How can youth with disabilities become insured for SSDI?

I spent half of last week at the Illinois Center for Transition and Work’s (ICTW’s) annual symposium.  As the name suggests, the Center’s mission is developing, educating about, and promoting approaches that improve the employment outcomes of students with disabilities--including intellectual and developmental disabilities and those requiring a high level of support—to move towards a post-secondary outcome of competitive employment in the community.  I brought to the table education for educators about the effect that earned income can have on Social Security Disability, Medicaid and Medicare benefits, and the Work Incentives that can help students and graduates maximize their earnings’ potential while maintaining the benefits they need.

In my last blog post, I reviewed some of the differences between Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) when it comes to the impact of earned income on both benefits.  I mentioned that youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities may transition from SSI to SSDI as they enter the world of work; and that SSDI is often a financially “superior” disability benefit for a number of reasons.  First, it is not reduced at all for unearned income, such as a survivor’s benefit that an adult child with a disability might receive from a parent who was covered by a public pension.  Second, it is not reduced for earned income that does not exceed the “Substantial Gainful Activity” or “SGA” level, which is $1,690/month for 2026.  Third, SSDI does not limit the recipients financial assets (or “countable resources”).  Fourth, the SSDI benefit may increase more than the general Social Security annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) if the recipient’s average monthly earned income rises.  Fifth, SSDI provides a path to Medicare, which can be a valuable source of affordable health insurance for workers not otherwise covered.

As a result, many youth with disabilities have as a goal the accumulation of six Social Security credits before their 24^th birthday (must also happen in three consecutive years), which is the fewest number of credits a person needs to be “fully insured” and start receiving SSDI. As a reminder, a person accumulates one Social Security credit for every $1,810 in gross earned income (2026), up to a maximum of 43 credits in a year.  That means that youth can reach the goal by earning an just around $4,000 in each of three calendar years.  In my home state of Illinois, where the minimum wage is $15/hour, this equates to less than 270 hours of work in the year or a little over 5 hours of paid work per week, assuming 2 weeks of time off. 

There are a number of ways that youth can achieve this.  Some transition programs assist youth to get paid work experience as part of the transition program.  This may happen through off-campus internships or through employment in a school-sponsored micro-business or work activity.  A number of transition programs run coffee shops that serve students, school staff, and the general public (a shout out to Transition PERKS at Lyons Township High School near me) or a service like document shredding (High Five to ShredderWorks at Riverside Brookfield High School, also near me).  Some schools may employ students to work in the cafeteria or a spirit-wear store.  It is important to note that students must be on a standard payroll that withholds Social Security and Medicare tax (also known as OASDI or FICA tax) for earnings to generate Social Security credits.  Federal and state income tax need not be withheld if the student is not expected to owe any.  If the students are paid a stipend, funded by a public or private grant, the earnings generally will not result in Social Security credits.

Some families take it up themselves to help their young person find a part-time job either after school hours or during the summer break.  It can be challenging for teens—regardless of disability—to find a job, so some families turn to friends and relatives who have their own businesses.  Especially for small businesses, there may be non-immediate tasks such as organizing supplies or inventory, scanning/digitizing old paper documents, or shredding documents that are past the date to which they must be saved.  There may also be tasks that must be completed in a timely fashion, but which eat into the time that skilled employees could devote to higher-level tasks.  Examples of these are sealing and stamping hard-copy thank-you notes to clients or customers, distributing marketing fliers around the area, handing out samples, changing out seasonal decorations, and cleaning.  A small business owner may be willing to pay a student to come in a few hours per week to fulfill these necessary tasks.

Some youth and their families take a more entrepreneurial approach and find services the student can perform or goods s/he can produce to generate income.  For example, students might walk dogs or care for pets and plants for neighbors on vacation, wash cars, mow and/or rake lawns, weed or water gardens, assist at yard or garage sales, help set up for or clean up for parties, and similar services.  Or the student might grow vegetables or fruit or keep chickens for eggs and then sell the produce at the local farmer’s market.  Students with the skills might knit, crochet, or sew items, or even make jewelry.  I acquired last year at another conference a cute bucket hat for summer, made and sold by a young lady with intellectual disabilities who was a conference vendor, and I happily use it now.  It is important to note that the student must then file a tax return, including the schedules C and SE required for self-employment and then pay the self-employment tax to the IRS for these earnings to generate Social Security credits.

Almost every speaker at the ICTW conference cited well-researched conclusions that paid employment of some kind during the transition years, while the student is still part of the public school system, is one of the best predictors of employment success, once the student leaves the school system.  As an added bonus, paid employment during those years may allow the student to accumulate the Social Security credits s/he needs to be insured for SSDI and then Medicare, thus improving the overall financial well-being of the worker with a disability as well as providing all the non-financial benefits of work, such as a sense of contribution and belonging and pride in one’s accomplishments.