To qualify for SBP, the blind person must be a Pennsylvania resident and at least 21 years old.
A person meets the age requirement on the first day of the month he becomes 21. If the person’s birth date is unknown, the birth date for SBP purposes is July 1. If the month is known but not the day, consider the first of the month as the birthday.
The blind person must prove the year of his birth. Acceptable proof includes:
Birth certificates
Baptismal certificates
School, hospital or doctor’s records
Marriage certificates
Insurance policies
Civil or military service records
Enrollment record of voting districts
A person is a resident of Pennsylvania if he is living in the state when he applies, and not for a temporary purpose.
A blind person does not qualify for SBP if he or she is an inmate of a penal, reform or correctional institution or a public mental hospital. An institution for the mentally retarded is not a mental hospital.
55 Pa. Code § 161.21(a) 55 Pa. Code § 451.3(f)
Reviewed July 30, 2013