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SSA Blue Book disability listings for neurological disorders

Social Security uses 16 listings to decide disability claims involving neurological disorders. Meeting one of those criteria under body system 11.00 approves the claim at step 3, without further analysis of past work or other jobs in the national economy. This page covers every active listing, the medical evidence each one requires, and what happens if your records don't match.

Body system 11.00 in the SSA Blue Book covers neurological disorders for adult (Part A). SSA uses these listings at step 3 of its five-step disability evaluation. If your medical evidence meets one of the listings on this page, your claim is approved without the disability examiner moving on to past-work and labor-market analysis at steps 4 and 5.

Most claimants who do not meet a listing in this body system can still be approved at later steps based on their residual functional capacity, age, education, and past work. The medical evidence you build for a listing-match argument is the same evidence those later steps rely on, so the listing criteria are useful to read even when a claim looks like a step-5 approval candidate.

Body system code

11.00

Part A

Active listings

16

Specific impairments

Audience

Adults 18+

SSA disability evaluation

Step in evaluation

3 of 5

Listing match approves the claim

Active listings under 11.00

Every listing below has current SSA-published criteria. Codes that SSA reserved for future use or has withdrawn since 1985 are not included. Click a listing where a plain-English breakdown is available, or follow the regulation link for SSA's exact text.

SSA Blue Book listings under 11.00, neurological disorders
Code Listing Reference
11.02 Epilepsy , ssa.gov
11.04 Vascular insult to the brain , characterized by A, B, or C ssa.gov
11.05 Benign brain tumors , characterized by A or B ssa.gov
11.06 Parkinsonian syndrome , characterized by A or B despite adherence to prescribed treatment for at least 3 consecutive months ssa.gov
11.07 Cerebral palsy , characterized by A, B, or C ssa.gov
11.08 Spinal cord disorders , characterized by A, B, or C ssa.gov
11.09 Multiple sclerosis , characterized by A or B ssa.gov
11.10 Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) established by clinical and laboratory findings ssa.gov
11.11 Post-polio syndrome , characterized by A, B, C, or D ssa.gov
11.12 Myasthenia gravis , characterized by A, B, or C despite adherence to prescribed treatment for at least 3 months ssa.gov
11.13 Muscular dystrophy , characterized by A or B ssa.gov
11.14 Peripheral neuropathy , characterized by A or B ssa.gov
11.17 Neurodegenerative disorders of the central nervous system, such as Huntington's disease, Friedreich's ataxia, and spinocerebellar degeneration , characterized by A or B ssa.gov
11.18 Traumatic brain injury , characterized by A or B ssa.gov
11.20 Coma or persistent vegetative state , persisting for at least 1 month ssa.gov
11.22 Motor neuron disorders other than ALS , characterized by A, B, or C ssa.gov

Source: SSA Blue Book, body system 11.00. Last synced 2026-05-04.

How SSA describes this body system

Excerpted from SSA's regulatory introduction at the top of the body-system page. Full text and all subsection cross-references live on ssa.gov.

Neurological A. Which neurological disorders do we evaluate under these listings? We evaluate epilepsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, coma or persistent vegetative state (PVS), and neurological disorders that cause disorganization of motor function, bulbar and neuromuscular dysfunction, communication impairment, or a combination of limitations in physical and mental functioning such as early-onset Alzheimer's disease. We evaluate neurological disorders that may manifest in a combination of limitations in physical and mental functioning. For example, if you have a neurological disorder that causes mental limitations, such as Huntington's disease, which may limit executive functioning (e.g., regulating attention, planning, inhibiting responses, decision-making), we evaluate your limitations using the functional criteria under these listings (see 11.00G ). Under this body system, we evaluate the limitations resulting from the impact of the neurological disease process itself. If your neurological disorder results in only mental impairment or if you have a co-occurring mental condition that is not caused by your neurological disorder (for example, dementia), we will evaluate your mental impairment under the mental disorders body system, 12.00 . . In epilepsy, regardless of etiology, degree of impairment will be determined according to type, frequency, duration, and sequelae of sei...

Read the full text on the SSA Blue Book 11.00 page.

What happens during a claim under 11.00

The disability examiner assigned to your claim looks for medical records that match the lettered criteria of one of the listings above. The examiner does not diagnose you and does not weigh symptoms in isolation. They line up the listing's required findings against your records and decide whether the records contain enough to satisfy the listing as written.

If your records meet a listing, the claim is approved at step 3. If not, the examiner moves on to evaluating your residual functional capacity (RFC) at steps 4 and 5. RFC is a description of what work activity you can still do despite your impairments. The listings inform the RFC because the same medical evidence the listings ask for is the evidence the examiner uses to write the RFC. The disability overview walks through the full five-step evaluation in plain English.

Work activity, SGA, and the SSDI gate

A claim under any Blue Book listing is denied at step 1 if you are working at or above the substantial gainful activity threshold. SGA is the monthly earnings test SSA applies before any medical evaluation. Earning above SGA in countable work activity means SSA never reaches the listings on this page. Earning below SGA, or being out of work entirely, lets the medical evaluation proceed.

Once you are approved and receiving SSDI, the trial work period and extended period of eligibility apply differently than at the initial-application stage. Both are explained on the SGA amount page with year-by-year thresholds since 1975.

Children's listings for the same body system

SSA publishes a parallel body system at 111.00 for the children's (under 18) side of the same conditions. Many listings cross over with tighter functional thresholds for the children's version. The Neurological disorders (children) page covers the 14 active listings on that side.