Blind and disabled persons awarded federally administered SSI payments, 1975

State agencies made medical determinations on 975,000 applications filed by the blind and disabled in 1975. Forty percent were found eligible for federally administered payments, and 60 percent were found ineligible. Nine out of 10 of the awardees were adults. Forty percent of these adults either had no occupation or no occupation was reported. Among both adults and children, the leading cause of disability was mental illness. Nearly 1 out of 3 adults was awarded benefits on the basis of mental disorders. The proportion of children determined disabled by mental illness was about twice that of adults. More than one-half of all children awarded benefits were mentally retarded. Among adults, the second most frequent disabling impairment was cardio-vascular disease; among children, it was diseases of the nervous system and sense organs.