President Franklin D. Roosevelt had told Congress the previous year that he intended to provide a program for Social Security. He created a committee to study the issue of economic security and to make recommendations on which to base legislation to be considered by Congress.

This new Act created "a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income," according to the Social Security Administration’s pamphlet "Social Security: A Brief History."

Disability benefits–an important mainstay of the program today and championed by Illinois Social Security disability

attorneys–weren’t added until the 1950s. In fact, cash benefits such as are received today wouldn’t be a part of the program for more than 20 years after signing of the initial Act.

According to the history, the Social Security Amendments of 1954 created a disability insurance program that would provide for additional coverage against economic insecurity.

At first, this coverage entailed a disability "freeze" on workers’ Social Security records during years they were unable to work, with no cash benefits. The freeze prevented "periods of disability from reducing or wiping out retirement and survivor benefits."

On Aug. 1, 1956, nearly 21 years to the day of the signing of the initial Social Security Act, the act was amended to provide cash benefits to disabled workers between the ages of 50 to 65, and disabled adult children.

"Over the next few years, Congress broadened the scope of the program, permitting the dependents of disabled workers to qualify for benefits, and eventually disabled workers at any age could qualify," the SSA says in its history. Illinois disability attorneys work every single day with those whose medical condition make it impossible to work and provide for their families. More than 9.6 million people were receiving disability benefits, as of December 2009.

The Supplemental Security Income program as we know it today was created in the Social Security Amendments of 1972. The original 1935 Act had included programs for needy aged and blind people; in 1950 needy disabled individuals were added. The three programs were administered by state and local governments and had partial federal funding.

The system grew and became more complex and inconsistent, prompting the idea of federal oversight. According to the SSA, more than 7 million people receive SSI income support.

In the 1980s, the disability program underwent a number of changes, including requiring periodic reviews for beneficiaries. These reviews were halted in 1983. Congress passed the Disability Benefits Reform Act modifying several aspects of the disability program in 1984.

In late December 1999, the "Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999" became law. Beneficiaries were able to obtain vocational rehabilitation services. The law also covered beneficiaries’ return to work.

Want to know more? See www.ssa.gov.