If you rely on Social Security disability benefits programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), the year ahead will offer a somewhat minimal amount of relief financially.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) issued its cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2025 on October 10, 2024. This coming year, the COLA will increase by 2.5 percent. The average increase over the past decade, according to the SSA, has hovered around 2.6 percent. The highest adjustment in recent years, an increase of 8.7 percent, went into effect in 2023.

Because of their disability, a person receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) may not have worked long enough to qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits on their own work record. Therefore, once they meet the government’s strict physical or mental disability requirements and fall under SSI’s income and asset caps, the SSI recipient might assume that they will never obtain SSDI benefits in the future.

However, this is not always the case. In fact, many SSI recipients who became disabled prior to turning 22 years old may begin to receive SSDI benefits when one of their parents retires, becomes disabled, or passes away.

Currently, individuals who acquired a severe disability prior to age 22 are eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) based on a parent’s work record.

However, if a young person with a disability then wishes to pursue employment opportunities as they transition into adulthood, they may put themselves as risk of losing another benefit, the Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefit.

In June 2023, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and a group of fellow senators reintroduced a bipartisan bill, known as the Work Without Worry Act.

Designed to allow adults with serious, lifelong disabilities to work without becoming ineligible for certain benefits, the legislation could aid about 6,000 individuals with disabilities over the coming decade if it passes.