Listing 12.05 · Mental disorders

Intellectual disorder

To be approved under this listing, a claim must meet any one of the criteria below — and the medical records have to prove it.

  1. A

    Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning + significant deficits in adaptive functioning + onset before age 22.

    In plain terms: Have you ever been diagnosed with intellectual disability or were you in special-education classes growing up?

    Evidence required:IQ testTreating physician report
  2. B

    Full-scale IQ of 70 or below, OR a verbal/performance IQ of 70 or below.

    In plain terms: Have you been given an IQ test that came back at 70 or below?

    Evidence required:IQ test

Note · Either paragraph A or paragraph B suffices for 12.05.

Read the official SSA text for Listing 12.05

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Approval odds by condition

How claims for this body system fare through the process.

Other mental disorders listings

Neurocognitive disordersSchizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disordersDepressive, bipolar, and related disordersAnxiety and obsessive-compulsive disordersSomatic symptom and related disordersPersonality and impulse-control disordersAutism spectrum disorderNeurodevelopmental disordersEating disordersTrauma- and stressor-related disorders

Source: SSA Listing of Impairments (Blue Book), 20 CFR Part 404, Subpart P, Appendix 1 · Updated 2026-06-18. Criteria paraphrased for readability; see the official SSA text linked above. Not legal or medical advice — whether a specific medical record meets Listing 12.05 is an individualized judgment SSA makes on the evidence.