After you apply for Social Security disability benefits, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will send you a copy of Form SSA-3373-BK, an Adult Function Report. This form is your opportunity as a claimant to communicate to the SSA how your disabilities impact your daily functioning and most importantly, why you feel you are unable to work (or in Social Security disability parlance, why you are unable to perform substantially gainful activity (SGA)).
First and foremost, it is critical to your claim that you complete and submit this form as if you fail to do so, the SSA will deny your claim for lack of evidence. In filling out the form, you should provide honest answers that accurately describe the effects of your impairments on your daily life, though it is important to recognize that the SSA will give substantially more weight to what the medical evidence of record demonstrates about the effects of your impairments than the statements you provide on the adult function report.
One of the most important questions on the adult function report is question five: “How do your illnesses, injuries, or conditions limit your ability to work?” In answering this question, it may be helpful to think why you had to leave your last job, whether you quit or had your employment terminated. Regardless of your specific combination of impairments, most people who can no longer work due to their physical and/or mental impairments are unable to do so for one or more of a few common reasons, including but not limited to the following:
• An inability to interact effectively with supervisors and coworkers due to irritability, impaired impulse control, neglect of personal hygiene, or suicidal or homicidal ideation
• An inability to maintain regular attendance eight hours per day, five days per week, fifty weeks per year due to severe fatigue, pain, depressed mood or motivation, or periods of incapacitation
• An inability to sit, stand, or walk six hours out of an eight hour day five days per week, eight hours per day, fifty weeks per year without accommodation
• An inability to understand and follow instructions communicated from a supervisor or other coworkers as a result of cognitive limitations, including memory or concentration problems
In answering question five, it may be helpful to think if any of these common reasons apply to how your specific combination of disabilities precludes your ability to work. For instance, if you are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), rather than simply writing that your PTSD prevents you from being to obtain and sustain a job, it is more impactful and descriptive to write that your PTSD causes you to be unable to get long with or be in the presence of other people because you do not feel safe, if this is the case.
In addition, it is important in answering question five to steer clear of mentioning a depressed economy, lack of training or education, discrimination, or old age as reasons why you are unable to work as these explanations have nothing to do with the SSA’s question, “How do your illnesses, injuries, or conditions limit your ability to work?”, though they are admittedly external, non-medical factors that may impact your ability to work.
If you or a loved one are interested in applying for Social Security disability benefits, Viner Disability Law can help you file a claim for disability benefits and will assist you in filling out the adult function report or review an already completed form.
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