February 27, 1979: Birth of the Grid: Part 1 of 3 Bobby H. Kirk, James C. Stallings, James Leonard,
In the late 1970s the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services developed a new system for determining who is and is not disabled for purposes of giving Social Security Disability benefits. These were, and still are, referred to as the “Medical-Vocational Guidelines” or more commonly “the Grid.” The Grid was developed at the behest of Congress which was concerned that very similar disability claimants were often treated very differently. It is, an
