What Does The Social Security Administration Mean By Activities Of Daily Living?

As the term implies, “activities of daily living” are the things that you do every day. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is interested in everything you do in a typical day, everything you did in a typical day before getting hurt or sick, and everything you can no longer do because of your injury or illness.

Specific Activities of Daily Living the SSA Wants to Know About

The definition of activities of daily living described above is general. More specifically, the SSA is interested in whether you can do the following things independently:

Take care of your personal hygiene. This includes things like showering and getting dressed.
Shop. This includes things such as shopping for food, medicine, and clothes independently.
Play. Your recreational activities are relevant to how well you function in your daily life.

You will be asked to complete an activities of daily living form with specific questions that will help the SSA understand how your injury or illness impacts your daily life. It may seem like this is an easy form to fill out, but it is important that you fill out the form completely. Typically, every pain, every bit of inconvenience, and every hardship should be noted for each activity.

You do not have to fill out this form on your own. Instead, you have the right to work with an experienced Social Security disability attorney to make sure you fill it out correctly and so that you understand the impact of your answers on your Social Security disability claim. To learn more, please fill out our online contact form today and one of our Texas Social Security disability lawyers will contact you directly.