OBSERVATIONS ON DISABILITY EVALUATION IN THE SOCIAL-SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

Flawed assumptions underlying the Social Security Administration's (SS A's) disability adjudication process conflict with the reality of bure aucratic decision making. The SSA insists that objective decision maki ng can be ensured by a variety of managerial procedures. However, the notion that disability can be objectively determined is questionable. Furthermore, even if disability were objectively determinable in theor y, bureaucratic reality makes the SSA unlikely to attain such objectiv ity in practice. Consequently, people with disabilities would be serve d best not by merely reforming the SSA's disability adjudication proce dures (as the SSA now proposes) but by fundamentally rethinking the in adequate linkage between the disability system, other social welfare s ystems, and the nature of work in modern society.