What are compassionate allowances?

The following answer is from: https://faq.ssa.gov/link/portal/34011/34019/Article/3716/What-are-compassionate-allowances

Compassionate allowances allow us to expedite Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications for people whose medical conditions are so severe that their conditions obviously meet Social Security’s definition of disability. 

See Compassionate Allowances for more information.

The following answer is Attorney Walter Hnot’s annotated response to the previous answer. 

Bottom line, you don’t want to have a compassionate allowance, and receive your benefits in two or three days.  These are the disabilities that are so horrific, so deadly, so ect…that a person with a compassionate allowance is likely on a terminal track with a timeline next to their name.