Return to Videos Your age plays into your disability claim because the Social Security judge takes a look at what are known as the grids, to determine whether or not you're disabled. For example, somebody who's a 45 year old Hispanic who only speaks Spanish and has a bad back due to surgery or something like that. Will be considered differently if he has no education than somebody with a PhD who's 55 years old and can still do other sedentary work. The grid system is very complicated but it's a reason or a good reason why going into these things why you should hire an attorney to make that determination because the grids is virtually not understandable by people that don't have daily experience using it.