I just received a Function Report in the mail that I am supposed to fill out which outlines how my disabilities affect my daily life. I was wondering if there was anything I should know prior to filling this out that may help my approval.
I know that "words matter" and I want to make sure I get the wording right. As you all know, the VA has their "buzzwords" that help check blocks. For instance, if I had not known what the word "prostrating" meant prior to my migraine exam, I would have been at a real disadvantage. I just want to make sure I am doing the same with this.
It’s been 5 years since I filled out a functional report but it’s basically ADL’s (activities of daily living).
Basically, if you fill out the form and state that you can do everything on the form, they will likely say you’re not disabled. I have a variable disease and some days I can do a lot and some days I can do almost none of the activities, so I filled it out based on my worst days, since there is no predicting whether or not I’ll have a good or bad day. I can even start out having a good day and it changes in 5 minutes to a very bad day... that’s difficult for me because when it’s bad, I basically cannot walk at all, and I never know if or when I’ll regain my strength.
I am able to shower and dress myself, but someone else (wife) basically does all of the shopping, cooking cleaning and other things for me. On bad days I don’t even shower because that makes me tired and weak.
I will definitely keep that in mind while I am filling it out. Did you end up getting approved? If so, what does it look like now 5 years later? Are there reevaluations to keep benefits?
I will definitely keep that in mind while I am filling it out. Did you end up getting approved? If so, what does it look like now 5 years later? Are there reevaluations to keep benefits?
I was approved. I’ve had one review since. It’s called a CDR, continuation disability review, and you’ll either get the short form 455, or the long form
454. The timing will be either every 18 months (medical
Improvement likely), 3 years (medical
Improvement possible), or 7 years (medical improvement impossible).
I got the short form at 3 years. I’ll have to do one every 3 years until age 55, then they can increase the timeline beyond every 3 years.
