Millions of Americans rely on Social Security disability benefits to meet their needs, yet this already complex system has become even more difficult to navigate thanks to sweeping changes enacted by the second Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
A new report featuring faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York reveals that 2025 changes to the federal benefits system – including staff cuts and administrative overhauls – have made it significantly harder for Americans to access disability benefits.
“The big takeaway is that an already difficult-to-navigate system is now harder to engage with, and that means that people in need, including the 16 million people served by these two programs, have a harder time getting desperately needed cash assistance that they're entitled to through these programs,” said Matthew Borus, an assistant professor of social work at Binghamton University.
“A Qualitative Investigation of Barriers to Disability Benefits in 2025” was co-authored by Borus, Katie Savin, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at California State University, Sacramento; and Callie Freitag, an assistant professor of social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The report was published jointly by The Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF) and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).
Borus and his co-authors spoke with 52 attorney and non-attorney benefits specialists at 32 organizations that assist claimants with obtaining and maintaining Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income benefits. They conducted this work just months after Trump and the newly formed DOGE began implementing major changes to Social Security Administration operations.
“We took a somewhat unique approach to this in that we talked with specialists at legal services agencies and disability organizations who assist people with these benefits every day. They talk with Social Security on a regular basis,” said Borus. “That gave us unique insight into how engaging with the agency became more difficult in 2025.”
The researchers found that “SSA policy and process changes implemented by the second Trump administration created significant barriers for those seeking to apply for and maintain disability benefits, as well as the attorneys and benefit specialists who represent them.”
Interviewees described claimants getting stuck in a loop and being unable to speak with the right people, and situations where people in severe medical crises or on the edge of homelessness were stuck waiting in desperation.
“It makes it more difficult for new applicants. It makes it more difficult for continuing beneficiaries who need to update their documents or appeal decisions,” said Borus. “These changes are also having a disproportionate impact on people who are already marginalized – folks with unstable housing, immigrant families, people with limited internet access.”
Borus said that the biggest factor behind many of the current issues is staffing cuts – by some estimates, the largest cuts Social Security has ever experienced.
“That has had this sort of ripple effect of people being moved around to try to cover places where there's inadequate staff, which means that experts aren't working on the complicated policy area that they know better than anyone, and instead they're answering phones,” said Borus. “Trying to run government programs without the needed person power doesn't work well, especially if you’re trying to serve people in need.”
In addition to making it more difficult for claimants, these burdens have also affected advocacy organizations, said Borus.
“There are a lot of community organizations, including here in the Southern Tier and central New York, who work every day to help people navigate the process of applying for and dealing with SSI and SSDI. Their work has become more difficult as Social Security has become harder to engage,” said Borus. “It's stressing the capacity of those organizations, too. Previously, routine work took up more of their time, which makes it even harder for them to serve more people, to almost have this perfect storm of decreasing access to very needed services.”
Based on their findings, the researchers provided 10 recommendations for policymakers and advocates, emphasizing key issues such as adequate staffing, consistent access to SSA services at field offices and on the phone, and protecting benefit access for vulnerable populations, including immigrant families.
The researchers will be hosting a webinar for professionals in the disability benefits field to share and discuss their findings. They will also be making a plain-language summary to make the information easier to digest for a general audience.
“It’s been difficult to know what’s happened at Social Security, particularly since the agency removed live customer service metrics from its website last summer,” said Borus. “This report provides a portrait of what’s really happening.
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A Qualitative Investigation of Barriers to Disability Benefits in 2025
2-Mar-2026