Going to a long vacation, taking off from work may be most people's ideal lifestyles. But it becomes a burden when you can't go to work due to a mild or severe disability. Work gives you a purpose, a direction of something to look forward to and do your contribution to the society.

But what if you had a disability in the past which limited your ability to do substantial amount of work and lead you to receive SSDI?

If your disability has improved, or better is gone forever, for example you are a veteran and your loss of limbs limited your movements in the past but now you got artificial limbic system installed. You might go back to work provided you notify the SSA of your improved condition and also if you earn below a threshold income $1180 for non-blind people and $1970 for blind, you would be able to keep your SSDI benefits. There are some exceptions to this rule however.

The social security disability program is actually designed to cater to the disabled individuals to find work that they can do instead of the substantial gainful activity. Therefore, under SSDI you may be able to work under the Trial Work Period (TWP) program. SSDI recipients are entitled to continue work and test their disability without losing the SSDI benefits for a period of nine-months. If your disability continues beyond that nine-month period, you would be able to continue receiving SSDI benefits for another 36 months period for each month that you earn an income below $1180 as of 2018.

After the trial work period has ended, the SSA provides you a further 5 years' hibernation period during which you can reinstate your SSDI benefits if you again stop working due to your disability.