Where do disability benefits come from in Louisiana?

The monthly payments for a disability come from Social Security, and the application for them starts there too. What Louisiana itself runs is a vocational rehabilitation program for people with disabilities who want to work, and that is further down this page.

What Social Security's Disability pays

Social Security Disability Insurance, which Social Security itself shortens to Disability, provides monthly payments to people who have a disability that stops or limits their ability to work.

You may be eligible if you have a disability or blindness and enough work history. Benefits may include a monthly payment and Medicare, and the payment amount is based on your work history before the disability began.

Where to apply

Social Security's Disability pages are where an application starts, and they carry the agency's own instructions for applying.

Where disability meets an unemployment claim

Unemployment and disability ask opposite questions about the same weeks. To be paid for a week of unemployment in Louisiana, you must be able to work, available for work, and actively searching for work that week. Social Security's Disability is for people whose disability stops or limits their ability to work.

So the picture you give one agency about a week should be the picture you give the other. Who qualifies sets out the state's test in full, and the weekly claim is where you answer it week after week.

Help getting back to work from the state

Louisiana Rehabilitation Services, on Louisiana Works' own site, works with people with all types of physical, mental, or emotional disabilities who are willing and able to work. That includes conditions such as deafness, spinal cord injury, visual impairment, and learning disabilities.

It is an eligibility program. Since 1988 it has provided vocational rehabilitation services under an Order of Selection, which gives priority to Louisianans with the most significant disabilities.

Start at Louisiana Rehabilitation Services. If what you need is ordinary help finding work, the job search page covers the state job bank and the career centers.