As a result of Davis v. Astrue, Case No. 3:06-CV-6108 EMC (N.D. Cal. 2012) and Doe v. Astrue, Case No. 3:09-CV-980 EMC (N.D. Cal. 2012), in 2010 the SSA changed their Work Activity Report (form 821) to include some situations that apply to mental and/or developmental disabilities (DD).  Before then, only physical disability factors; e.g., ramps for wheelchairs, were included.  In 2010, the SSA included:

1. Employer Subsidies, where an employee with a mental disability would be paid more for doing less work compared to other employees.
2. Impairment Related Work Expenses (IRWEs), where the employee pays for job coaches or independent living skills trainers, and
3. Special Conditions, covering situations that allowed someone with severe mental and/or IDD to work by having extra help, taking extra time; e.g., a truck delivery person who has a volunteer in the truck to help navigate and drop off packages.

Since the year 2018, the SSA has added one more notice of these offsets to substantial gainful activity amounts, which are used to terminate people; i.e., the Notice of Intent to Terminate Benefits for Working that are mailed to beneficiaries with mental and/or DD, states the above three factors that offset SGA: employer subsidies, IRWEs, and special conditions, may apply.

The Davis case was filed in 2005, litigated for almost 6 years, and very, very slowly the SSA is starting to take notice of the civil and human rights of people with severe mental and/or IDD.  Hopefully, in the future, the population with mental and/or DD rights will have equal access to those with primarily physical disabilities.