Disability Benefits Decoded

When a person receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) returns to the workforce, they face a baffling maze of rules and regulations. Many SSDI recipients fear losing their benefits and therefore limit their work activity or choose not to work at all. To address this issue and provide basic information to recipients, an educational video series was created. The design of this series, titled SSDI and Work, was guided by theories in Andragogy, Microlearning, the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, and Universal Design for Learning.

The video series was embedded in a learning management system and evaluated for usability and learning effectiveness with seventeen participants (n = 17). After completing the series, participants demonstrated an average improvement of 33% between pretest and posttest. In addition, participants reported increased confidence in their ability to “understand the effect of employment on SSDI” and “communicate with the Social Security Administration.” After the evaluation, the video series was used to launch the Disability Benefits Decoded YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@disabilitybenefitsdecoded).