The Disability Report - Completing Your Extra Work Copy
§ Section 1 - Information About The Disabled Person
This section is self-explanatory. You may wonder about Question E, height and weight. Severe obesity can be disabling itself or can contribute to disability. There's even a disability listing for obesity, so answer this question accurately.
§ Section 2 - Your Illnesses, Injuries Or Conditions And How They Affect You
Fill out your work copy.
Look at your notes on your disabilities. Review what you've written in Section 3 (below) about your work. (Note: you may want to complete Section 3 before you complete Section 2) Now relate your disabilities to how you did your work and the physical/mental requirements for each of your job tasks. For example:
I'll bet you could write a book! Go ahead - write it like you're writing to a friend and tell it like it is! This will definitely take more than two lines, so continue in Section 9 remarks.
A reminder about Question E: Review the "What We Mean By 'Disability" paragraph in the instructions for completing the Disability Report. The date to be entered in Question E is the date you became unable to do any substantial work because of your condition.
§ Section 3 - Information About Your Work
Fill out your work copy.
Keep in mind that the title that you list in question A for the job you did the longest does not automatically describe everything you actually did on the job. For example, your job title may have been "file clerk" but maybe your job duties also included the task of unpacking and storing office supplies - lifting 10-25 lb. cartons of supplies onto a work table, unpacking them, then storing individual items on shelves and in cabinets, using a step-ladder when necessary. This required:
- walking
- bending
- climbing
- stooping
- kneeling
- as well as carrying and handling small and large objects
You can see how this part of your job would affect your answers in Questions D, E, F and G.
I recommend that you write the specifics of each of your job tasks as I have in the example above - the task, how you did it and which of the physical requirements in Question D apply. The more detailed and specific you are the better! To compute the answers in Question D, add together the times for each task. These are estimates but do the best you can. For Question B, you'll need much more than the two lines shown so continue in Section 9, Remarks, the same way as suggested for Section 5 - Medications.
Mental Job Requirements
A word about mental job requirements: This is not about mental illness or intelligence. It's about mental skills such as:
- memory
- alertness
- concentration
Mental skills which may be impaired as a result of physical conditions and/or the medications used to treat them. If you are seriously impaired in this way and if these mental skills were a primary requirement of your job - for example, if you operated dangerous machines or equipment or if you did complex math - list the applicable mental requirements along with the physical requirements for each task of your primary job.
