i am 55 yr and disabled.
can i begin drawing my social security retirement now and how would it affect my disability payments?

Hi,

No. The earliest that anyone can draw Social Security retirement benefits is at age 62. And, you can't draw both Social Security retirement benefits and Social Security disability benefits (SSDI) at the same time.

Qualifying for SSDI benefits essentially just allows a person to draw their projected unreduced full retirement age (FRA) Social Security benefit sooner. If you continue to qualify for SSDI until you reach your FRA, your SSDI will automatically convert to regular Social Security retirement benefits at the same rate. If you chose to start drawing your retirement benefits at age 62 instead, your SSDI would stop being paid at that point and you would instead be paid a reduced Social Security retirement benefit that's roughly 30% lower than your SSDI rate.

Best, Jerry