Director, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy

0960-AH86 201804 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 0960 Social Security Administration SSA Removing Ability to Communicate in English as a Vocational Factor

We propose to revise existing disability evaluation rules relating to the ability to communicate in English. Specifically, we will clarify that an inability to communicate in English is not tantamount to illiteracy or inadequate verbal communication. Rather, an inability to communicate adequately verbally or in writing in any language will be the effective standard. The proposed revisions will reflect current research, analysis of our disability program data, Federal agency data about workforce participation, and comments we received from the public in response to an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

]]> Other Significant Previously Published in The Unified Agenda Proposed Rule Stage No No Fully or Partially Exempt 20 CFR 404.1564, part 404 subpart P app. 20 CFR 416.964 42 U.S.C. 402 42 U.S.C. 405(a) to 405(b) 42 U.S.C. 405(d) to 405(h) 42 U.S.C. 416(i) 42 U.S.C. 421(a) 42 U.S.C. 421(h) to (j) 42 U.S.C. 422(c) 42 U.S.C. 423 42 U.S.C. 425 42 U.S.C. 902(a)(5) Yes NPRM 08/00/2018 Undetermined None No No www.regulations.gov No No Daniel O'Brien Director, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy 0960 Social Security Administration SSA 410 597-1632 dan.obrien@ssa.gov Office of Vocational, Evaluation, and Process Policy, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore MD 21235-6401 William Gibson P. Social Insurance Specialist, Regulations Writer 0960 Social Security Administration SSA 410 966-9039 william.gibson@ssa.gov Office of Regulations and Reports Clearance, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore MD 21235-6401