Disability Benefit Applications Editing and Proofreading Services

Symptoms is a defined term in the Social Security disability regulations, and the definition runs to one line. Under 20 CFR 404.1502(i), symptoms means "your own description of your physical or mental impairment."¹ The definition of signs at 404.1502(g) is written by contrast, covering abnormalities "that can be observed, apart from your statements (symptoms)."¹ What an applicant writes is a named category of evidence rather than a cover letter. The citations here are to 20 CFR part 404, the regulations for Social Security disability insurance benefits, and parallel provisions for Supplemental Security Income sit in part 416.

What that category can do on its own

Evidence is sorted into five kinds by 20 CFR 404.1513(a). Objective medical evidence is first, medical opinion second, and other medical evidence third.² Evidence from nonmedical sources is fourth, defined as "any information or statement(s) from a nonmedical source (including you) about any issue in your claim."² Prior administrative medical finding is fifth.² The rule on symptoms then bounds the fourth kind: "statements about your pain or other symptoms will not alone establish that you are disabled."³

Seven factors, in the agency's own order

20 CFR 404.1529(c)(3) lists seven factors "relevant to your symptoms, such as pain, which we will consider".³ The first is daily activities, and the second is "the location, duration, frequency, and intensity" of the pain or other symptoms.³ The remaining five cover precipitating and aggravating factors, medication, other treatment, other measures used for relief, and anything else bearing on functional limitations.³ All seven are set out in the appendix below, in the regulation's order.

The form is arranged on a different plan

Form SSA-3373-BK, the Function Report for adults, runs in five lettered sections. Section A takes general information and Section B covers the illnesses, injuries, or conditions. Section C covers daily activities, Section D covers abilities, and Section E is headed Remarks.⁴ Within Section C the questions run by subject, so that 11 asks about sleep, 14 is headed House and Yard Work, and 18 is headed Hobbies and Interests.⁴ Seven regulatory factors and the numbered questions of Section C are two arrangements of one subject, and the order of one does not follow the order of the other.

Overflow has an instruction of its own. Where more space is needed, the form directs the writer to the Remarks section on page 10, "and show the number of the question being answered."⁴ A remark that carries no number leaves the reader to work out which question it answers. The instruction at the head of the form is equally direct: "DO NOT LEAVE ANSWERS BLANK."⁴ The form adds that where the answer is not known, or is none, or does not apply, the writer should say so rather than leave the box empty.⁴

A deadline counted in business days

Under 20 CFR 404.935(a), each party "must inform us about or submit any written evidence, as required in § 404.1512, no later than 5 business days before the date of the scheduled hearing."⁵ Where that is missed, "the administrative law judge may decline to consider or obtain the evidence," unless paragraph (b) applies.⁵ Paragraph (b) applies only where the judge has not yet issued a decision, and it names three circumstances.⁵ The first is that the agency's action misled the person, and the second is a physical, mental, educational, or linguistic limitation that prevented earlier submission.⁵ The third is some other unusual, unexpected, or unavoidable circumstance beyond the person's control.⁵

20 CFR 404.1512(a)(1) opens "In general, you have to prove to us that you are blind or disabled."⁶ The next sentence adds a duty to inform the agency about or submit "all evidence known to you that relates to" that question.⁶ The paragraph then makes the duty continuing, requiring disclosure of "any additional related evidence about which you become aware."⁶

What the account is read for, and what it is not read for

Social Security Ruling 16-3p, effective March 28, 2016 and republished in 2017, removed the term credibility from the agency's sub-regulatory policy.⁷ In its place is a two-step evaluation: first whether a medically determinable impairment could reasonably be expected to produce the alleged symptoms, and second how far those symptoms limit the ability to perform work-related activities.⁷ The ruling adds that "in evaluating an individual's symptoms," adjudicators "will not assess an individual's overall character or truthfulness in the manner typically used during an adversarial court litigation."⁷

Where our work sits

What a condition prevents, what a medical source should record, and how a file will be weighed are not ours to answer. Those belong to the applicant, to the medical sources, and to the adjudicator. We do not give legal advice and we do not give medical opinions.

What a client sends us goes no further. We compare a date in one answer with the date in another. We set a limitation described in Section C beside the way it is described in Section D, and we check a remark for the question number the form asks for. Where an answer says less than the applicant told us, we ask rather than fill it in.

There is a companion form. SSA-3380-BK is completed by someone who knows the applicant, and its instruction is plain: "It is important that you tell us what you know about the disabled person's activities and abilities."⁸ The applicant does not write the third-party report and does not control what it says. Two accounts of the same weeks are then prepared by two people who are not consulting each other.