Skip to main content

HOW TO COMPLETE A FUNCTION REPORT OR ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING FORM

After you apply for Social Security Disability (SSDI), you will be sent a FUNCTION REPORT to fill out and return.  This form asks a lot of very detailed questions about your daily activities:  driving, cooking, cleaning, dressing, visiting others, hobbies, etc.

The Social Security Administration will use your answers to determine whether you can work or not.  You must show on this Function Report that you have limitations that do not permit you to work a full-time job.  You do this by showing your limitations in activities of daily living.

Your goal in the Function Report is to show the struggles and challenges you have with everyday life.  It may not be sufficient to answer a question with "Yes" and fail to explain.

For example:  "Can you drive?"  If you answer "Yes," Social Security will assume that your ability to drive is unlimited:  you can drive anytime, anywhere and as often or as far as you want.  That may not be true and would need to be explained.

The Function Report gives you the opportunity to explain the ways you are limited in your daily functions.

 The Function Report is not a questionnaire about your past accomplishments. It is not a resume or a chance for you to tell the SSA how well you used to do things. Instead, the activities of daily living form is about the problems you face every day (NOW) due to your medical condition(s). The form should tell the SSA if you can no longer cook, clean, or do the laundry without help. If you don’t write about your limitations, then the SSA will use your answers to prove that you can work.

 If some days are better than others, address your limitations on the "bad days."  You should not exaggerate but neither should you minimize.  Some clients tell me, "I feel bad about how little I can do."  This attitude, of course, will get your claim denied if it's transferred onto the Function Report.  Remember, you are not filling out a job application or a resume:  you are trying to convince Social Security that you can't work.  Help them to understand why.

Finally, the Function Report should address symptoms--how your medical conditions affect your daily performance.  Don't talk about medical terms.  Avoid words like arthritis, congestive heart failure, spondylosis, diabetes or degenerative disc disease.  Talk about how these conditions make you FEEL and how they restrict your ability to sit, stand, walk, lift, bend, concentrate, etc.  It is a FUNCTION REPORT.

As a matter of caution, here is a real statement I once saw on a Social Security denial letter:

On her Function Report, the claimant admitted that she can prepare meals, do the laundry, vacuum, shop, drive and groom and bathe herself.  She further states that she goes to church, visits her family weekly and plays games on the computer...."

In short, this individual's Function Report convinced the Social Security Administration that she has very few significant limitations that would prevent her from working.   So, she is not disabled.

_____________

Having trouble with Social Security disability?  Contact THE FORSYTHE FIRM for a free consultation with no obligation, no pressure.  Just call us.  (256) 799-0297.


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MEETING SOCIAL SECURITY'S DURATION REQUIREMENT FOR DISABILITY

SSDI, or Social Security Disability Insurance, requires a severe impairment which has lasted for at least 12 straight months, is expected to last at least 12 straight months OR is expected to end in death. This 12 consecutive months requirement is called the "Duration Requirement."  Disabilities with a duration of less than 1 year are not covered under the Social Security Act. You do not have to wait 12 months to file a claim. There is no requirement to wait 12 months to file.  But if your disability has not already last for at least 12 months, the nature of the impairment must be such that is can reasonably be expected to last 12 months or longer OR to end in death.  Short term impairments are not covered. What you will need to document for your medical and/or mental impairment(s):   A claimant will require objective medical proof.  This comes in the form of official medical records from doctors, clinics, hospitals, counselors, therapists and other professiona...
Post a Comment
Read more

SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS FOR DOWNS SYNDROME

Downs Syndrome may qualify for automatic SSI disability in children. A child with Translocation Syndrome or Trisomy 21 will usually be classified as disabled from birth. This type of syndrome affects about 98 percent of the Downs Syndrome population. Social Security will want a diagnosis from a medically acceptable source and they will want certain tests.Once the documentation is presented, an SSI award may be automatic.  Those with Mosaic Down syndrome may qualify, but your child would need more than a diagnosis to be approved. Because [according to SSA] people with Mosaic Down syndrome may not have as many intellectual or physical disabilities as those with other forms of Down syndrome, you’ll need to meet another listing in the Blue Book to qualify. Social Security will consider the complications or manifestations of Downs Syndrome in making a decision. If the claimant is a child (under 18), k eep in mind that SSI is a needs-based program for families with limited resources...
Post a Comment
Read more

MUST YOU MEET A LISTING FOR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY?

You hear talk of getting SSDI benefits by "meeting a Listing."  What are the Listings? The Blue Book listings are found in the regulations at 20 CFR 404, Subpart P, Appendix I. The Listings are divided into 12 body systems.  Each severe impairment is listed under its respective body system.  For example, Congestive Heart Failure is listed under Section 4.00 - Cardiovascular System. When you go there, there is a list of severe symptoms, and they are severe.   If you exactly meet or equal the list of very extreme symptoms you will be automatically approved for disability. Here's the problem:  Meeting one of the listings is about as likely as winning the Super Lotto.  It is very, very unlikely that you will do so. Thus, 99 percent of claimants do not and cannot get approved by meeting a listing.  The listings are only for catastrophic, extreme impairments that most claimants simply do not have--or do not have at the severity level demanded by the listings...
Post a Comment
Read more