Like any medically determinable impairment, BPI can be disabling if it is sufficiently
severe. Because BPI usually affects only one upper extremity, the condition ordinarily
does not fulfill SSA’s disability severity requirements. Children with particularly
severe BPI injuries (e.g., bilateral BPI), or BPI together with another impairment(s),
can be found disabled. Some children with BPI will have various limitations in their
ability to: put on or remove shirts/jackets, socks, shoes, tie a shoe, maneuver a
zipper or button, pull their pants up/down, hold a piece of paper down so they can
write, wear winter gloves (they fall off due to no hand movement), potty train, use
bathroom facilities without assistance, wash hair, clasp bra, sharpen pencils, participate
in two-handed activities in school and in physical education class, buckle or unbuckle
seat belts that require two hands, floss teeth, cut fingernails, apply deodorant,
style hair, open milk containers, boxes or jars, cut meat, squeeze toothpaste onto
a toothbrush, carry anything requiring two hands, or scratch the side of the body.