The Adult Function Report and Your Daily Activities

The Adult Function Report (Form SSA-3373) is where you tell Social Security, in your own words, how your medical condition affects your ability to do everyday things. It matters because SSA doesn't just look at diagnoses and test results — it has to decide whether you can still function well enough to work. The way you describe your daily activities can support your medical evidence or, if you're not careful, undercut it. Answer honestly, answer completely, describe your bad days as well as your good ones, and make sure what you write lines up with what your medical records already show.

What the Function Report is and why SSA asks for it

When you apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) based on disability, SSA asks you to complete Form SSA-3373, often mailed or made available online after you file your initial application. It asks detailed questions about a typical day: your sleep, personal care, meal preparation, household chores, getting around, shopping, managing money, hobbies, social activities, and how well you can pay attention, follow instructions, handle stress, and get along with others. There's also a separate third-party version (Form SSA-3380) that a friend, relative, or caregiver who knows you well can fill out describing what they've observed.

SSA's disability decision-makers — first a state disability examiner, and later, if you appeal, an administrative law judge — use this information alongside your medical records to evaluate your "residual functional capacity," meaning what you can still do despite your impairments. That assessment feeds directly into whether SSA finds you can return to past work or adjust to other work that exists in the national economy. In other words, this form is not a bureaucratic afterthought. It's evidence, and it's weighed as evidence.

Answer honestly and completely — don't understate your limits

A common instinct is to downplay difficulties out of pride, habit, or a desire not to seem like you're complaining. Resist that instinct. If it takes you three tries and extra time to shower because of pain or dizziness, say so. If you need reminders to take medication, or your spouse cooks because you can't stand long enough to prepare a meal, or you nap for two hours most afternoons, write that down specifically. Vague answers like "I do okay most days" tell SSA very little. Specific, concrete descriptions — how long a task takes you now versus how long it used to take, what accommodations or help you need, what you had to give up — give the decision-maker something real to evaluate.

Describe your bad days, not just your best ones. Many impairments fluctuate: chronic pain, migraines, seizure disorders, autoimmune conditions, and mental health conditions can vary significantly from day to day or week to week. If you average everything into a single "typical" day, you can end up describing a version of yourself that's more capable than you actually are on the days that matter most. It's fair and accurate to explain the range: what a relatively better day looks like, what a bad day looks like, roughly how often bad days happen, and what tends to trigger or follow them.

Be consistent with your medical record

SSA compares what you write in the Function Report against what your treatment notes, your own statements to your doctors, and any other evidence in the file show. For claims filed on or after March 27, 2017, SSA no longer automatically gives extra weight to a treating doctor's opinion just because that doctor treated you; instead, examiners and judges evaluate all medical opinions based on how well they're supported by objective findings (supportability) and how consistent they are with the rest of the record (consistency). That makes consistency across your own statements even more important. If you tell your doctor you can walk a few blocks but tell SSA you can't walk at all, or if your function report says you can't concentrate for more than a few minutes but your treatment notes describe you as alert and engaged, that mismatch can raise doubts — even when both statements are trying to describe something real, like a symptom that varies.

Talk to your doctor about your daily limitations at your regular appointments, not just when a form arrives. Detailed, contemporaneous treatment notes are some of the strongest evidence in a disability claim, and they naturally end up consistent with an honest Function Report because they're describing the same reality.

Common mistakes that can sink an otherwise solid claim

• Minimizing symptoms out of habit or pride. People who have coped with an illness for years often minimize it reflexively, even on official forms where accuracy matters most.
• Leaving sections blank or writing "N/A" instead of explaining. If a question doesn't apply, say why. If it does apply and you're unsure how to answer, answer as best you can rather than skipping it.
• Only describing your best days. As above, this creates a misleadingly capable picture.
• Exaggerating or claiming total incapacity when it isn't accurate. This can be just as damaging as understating limits — it invites scrutiny and can conflict with your own medical record or activities SSA can verify. Never overstate or fabricate symptoms, hide work activity, or misrepresent your situation; that isn't just bad strategy, it's fraud, and it can result in denial, repayment, and criminal penalties.
• Inconsistency with statements made elsewhere — to your doctors, on social media, in prior applications, or in a work history report.
• Rushing through it. The form is long and detailed for a reason. Take your time, use extra sheets if you need more room to explain, and consider having someone who knows your daily routine help you complete it or review it before you send it back.
• Focusing only on physical limits and ignoring mental or cognitive ones, if they apply — concentration, memory, stress tolerance, and getting along with others are just as relevant to SSA's evaluation as physical function.

What to do

1. Read every question carefully and answer in your own words, describing specifics rather than generalities.
2. Keep a few days' notes beforehand if you can — jotting down what you actually do, how long it takes, and what help you need makes the form easier and more accurate to complete.
3. Describe your bad days and your good days, and how often each occurs.
4. Note every accommodation: assistive devices, help from others, reminders, rest breaks, modified routines.
5. Review it against what you've told your doctors to make sure the picture is consistent.
6. Ask for help if you need it — from a family member, a caregiver, an SSA-approved representative, legal aid, or your state's protection-and-advocacy agency — especially if a mental or cognitive impairment makes the form itself hard to complete.
7. Keep a copy of what you submit for your own records.
8. Watch your deadlines. If SSA denies your claim, you generally have about 60 days from when you receive the notice to request reconsideration, and the same roughly 60-day window applies at each further appeal level (an administrative law judge hearing, Appeals Council review, and finally federal court). Missing a deadline can end your right to appeal, so calendar it the day the notice arrives.

How this fits into the bigger picture

The Function Report is one part of a larger record SSA uses to apply its five-step disability evaluation: whether you're working at a level SSA considers substantial, whether you have a severe impairment, whether it meets or equals a listed impairment, whether you can do your past work, and whether you can adjust to other work. Because the dollar figures used in parts of this process — such as the earnings level that counts as substantial gainful activity, SSI's income and resource limits, and the SSI federal benefit rate — change periodically, don't rely on a remembered number. Check the current figures directly at ssa.gov before making decisions based on them.

SSDI is an earned insurance benefit funded through your work history, and SSI is a needs-based safety-net program; some people qualify for both at the same time. Neither is a handout, and applying honestly and thoroughly — including through forms like this one — is simply how the system is designed to work.

Beware of scams

Watch for anyone who guarantees approval, asks for payment up front, or contacts you unexpectedly claiming to be from SSA and demanding personal information, gift cards, or wire transfers to "process" your claim. Legitimate representatives — attorneys or non-attorney advocates recognized by SSA — are paid only a fee approved by SSA and taken from your back pay, never money you pay out of pocket in advance. Free help with applications and appeals is often available through legal aid organizations and your state's protection-and-advocacy agency.

This article provides general information about the Social Security disability process. It is not legal advice or medical advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. For guidance on your specific situation, consult SSA directly at ssa.gov, an SSA-approved representative, or a legal aid organization in your state.