Many people when approaching age 62 take early Social Security Retirement as they feel they are unable to continue working.  Many of these cases should actually be Social Security Disability cases.  Most of these people are unable to continue performing the types of work they have done in the past due to a physical or mental condition.  The benefit of filing for Social Security Disability is that you are still able to start collecting early retirement while you go through the disability process.  This is very beneficial because of how long the disability process takes you still have some income coming in.  Once you prove your disability, your benefit amount will change to the disability amount, which is higher then your early Social Security Retirement Benefits.