HOW YOUR DAILY ACTIVITIES ARE CONSIDERED IN AN SSDI CLAIM

When deciding whether to pay disability benefits, Social Security will consider the claimant's activities of daily living.  They will use the reported activity level to determine whether the claimant can perform the demands of work.  Social Security obtains an estimate of activity level from 3 sources:

1)  Self-reported activities in the Function Report which the claimant fills out at the time of application.  This 14-page form will ask about everything from caring for pets to shopping and cleaning your house.

2)  Review of doctor's records where the doctor often makes a note about the patient's activities.  For example, I see doctor's notes that say things like, "Just came back from vacation in Colorado and has a sore back."  Or, "Went to Tunica last weekend and lost $300 and is still upset." I recently read a medical record where the doctor noted:  "He has been helping a friend remodel his house."

(3)  Direct testimony by the claimant during a hearing.  The judge will ask the claimant about things like shopping, lawn work, doing the laundry, cleaning, visiting friends, hobbies...and a long list of activities.

I suspect that judges may also look at self-reported activities in social media...like Facebook.  Social media kind of opens our private lives up for the entire world to see.  If you play with the grandkids, take trips, go fishing or have an especially beautiful lawn (that requires a lot of back breaking work)...these things seem to get noticed at Social Security, thanks to Facebook, Twitter or social media accounts.

Decision makers will look to see how robust the claimant's daily activities are.  If there doesn't seem to be a lot of restrictions in activities, the decision maker may conclude that the claimant can work at some type of job.  Simply put, if the activities you report are inconsistent with a severe disability, it will hurt your credibility and your case.

I try to make sure my clients understand the purpose of Social Security disability.  It is to provide a minimal income to individuals who have absolutely lost the ability to sustain every type of work available in the national economy.  That's a very rigorous standard.  Your ability to work will be judged by how many normal activities of daily living you are still able to perform.  Social Security is looking for consistency:  what you report to them is consistent with your activities day-to-day.
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