When you apply for Social Security, and found you either have paid enough into the system to meet the non-medical requirements for SSDI benefits or have the requisite few assets to met the technical requirements, your case then gets moved on to your state’s respective Disability Determination Services. It is a very rare occasion that a claimant gets direct contact with a DDS examiner who is handling their claim. This portion in the process affords very little chance for a claimant to directly explain how their conditions truly affect their day to day life. This is where the function report comes in.
Most claimants will receive in the mail a questionnaire that asks very pointed questions to how their conditions affect them in their day to day activities. This report is several pages long, and many claimants may find it very intimidating. Don’t be afraid, and embrace the opportunity. For most people, it will take 45-60 minutes to complete. This report calls to many aspects of most people’s daily lives: from hobbies, to cleaning, to cooking to shopping. This is because how you are in your daily life outside of working is indicative of your ability to work.
In this report, many claimants make the mistake of not taking it seriously and answering questions without detail. For example, a claimant may be in a hurry to finish the report, and state very broadly that they clean around the house. This might give the DDS examiner the image of being on the floor scrubbing for long periods, followed by a lengthy vacuuming session. The truth for the claimant may be that he picks up his kids clothes on two separate occasions throughout the day, creating a total cleaning time of seven minutes per day.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, many claimants feel the need to embellish and exaggerate. This can also create problems as DDS examiners have seen literally hundreds of these reports, and know an exaggeration when they see it, especially considering that DDS examiners are also reviewing your medical records and know when the function report is inconsistent. This can result in a DDS examiner not taking the remainder of the function report seriously, even if the remainder of the function report is consistent with what your medical records indicate.
Where many claimants feel their conditions affect them the most is not in their work, but in their hobbies that they enjoy (often more than their work) which they can no longer do anymore. There is a section in the function report devoted to the hobbies you can and can no longer do. Be detailed in this section, as the hobbies you can no longer do because of your conditions is indicative of the work you can do because of your condition. A person who enjoys building model airplanes, but had to stop due to his severe carpel tunnel cannot be expected to work with his hands. A person who enjoys working out, but can’t lift a 10 lb dumbbell anymore, cannot be expected to repeatedly lift and carry a 10 lb box.
Often times, claimants feel like at the end, they need to clarify a few points. This is where the ending “Remarks” section comes in. If a claimant thinks a specific point should be noted, that they didn’t mention already, he/she should put it in the remarks.
Finally, the Function Report has a deadline to be back in the mail 10 days after it is sent out. This is not a report to sit on. Get working on the report immediately when you see it in the mail, and get it back in the mail as soon as it is done. As we have seen, this report provides clarity to how your conditions affect you. You don’t want DDS to make their decision without the information you can provide in this report.
