Testifying Effectively About
Your Daily Activities
Testifying Effectively About Your Daily Activities
At your disability hearing, the judge will probably ask you about your usual daily activities. The judge will evaluate your daily activities to determine whether they are in harmony with your reported symptoms and limitations. For example, if you claim to have trouble standing and sitting because of severe back pain, but you testify that you ride your bike every day, the judge will doubt your claims. Your Orange Park disability lawyer will help you tailor your testimony to your specific disability.
Examples
The judge’s questioning about your daily activities offers you a great chance to support your case with lots of specific facts. Here are some examples:
Judge: What do you do on a typical day?
Claimant: Nothing.
This is an ineffective answer. Your Orange Park disability lawyer will advise you to describe exactly what you do: watching television, staring out the window, lying down, or staring at the ceiling.
Here’s another example of ineffective testimony:
Judge: What do you do on a typical day?
Claimant: I cook, clean, dust, go to the market, and wash some clothes.
Although this answer is honest, it doesn’t support the case because the claimant omitted all the key facts.
A better answer would be:
Judge: What do you do on a typical day?
Claimant: I clean the house, but I can only do it for a few minutes at a time. Then I have to lie down and rest. I cook only easy meals because I can’t stand in the kitchen for very long. My neighbor helps me wash clothes and go to the store because I can’t lift things. I have to rest on my recliner throughout the day to ease my back pain.
It may help to describe your day hour by hour. Focus on activities you must do differently now because of your disability. There are probably quite a few. These are crucial because they are evidence of how your disability has negatively affected your life.
Contact Us For advice about your Social Security disability claim from a Orange Park disability lawyer, call First Coast Disability Lawyers at 904-215-5555.
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Amazing experience. John and his team answered very fast and were extremely helpful during this aggravating process.... 10/10 would recommendread more
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I came to John Fagan Law Firm with questions. They provided me answers and professional, sincere and very thoughtful... advise. Attorney, David Drill and Case Manager, Debbie Johnson are very knowledgeable and always a phone call or email away. Thank you so very much for assisting me with this process. You will be recommended to anyone that I come in contact with for legal assistance.read more
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My experience with this firm was not only better than I anticipated, it was a huge relief. I didn't have to babysit... like I did with the large firm I left to come here. Attorney, David Drill was professional, knowledgeable, understanding and straightforward. He was never dismissive or intolerant of my tears and always asked me for my input while offering his perspective and expertise. The office staff was always friendly and responsive. I will be referring literally everyone I can here. I can’t thank them enough.read more
District 14
15:02 30 Jan 20
I was very pleased with the service I received at John Fagan. My representative David Drill was top notch in getting my... case out in the open and getting the settlement done. Mrs.Debbie his assistant was wonderful, she kept me in the loop with all the needed appointment and any other information I desired. I would say to anyone considering an attorney to call John Fagan.read more
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15:03 24 Jan 20
Daphne and Adrienne have been very informative . They helped me get the medical treatment I needed after the accident.... For an experience I’ve never been through before, I highly recommend this team.read more
Kathryn McQueen
22:52 23 Jan 20
Daphne and the staff at John Fagan provided and demonstrated professional service in each of my cases. Daphne was... available to answer every medical, insurance, and any additional legal question of my concern. Daphne consistently contacted me when there was an update in my case. I had no worries or stress on the outcome of my case. I would highly recommend Daphne!read more
Lisa Mari
20:36 03 Jan 20
I was hurt on my job and I’m very happy that John answered my phone call and that I used his service. My attorney... David and Assistant Debbie were fantastic! Everybody in the office completely courteous too, if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t of gotten such a good settlement. Anybody going to Workers Comp needs ATTORNEY’s like this firm.read more
Marianna Midyette
02:27 20 Nov 19
Great firm was very Happy with adraine with the out come with my case
Renée Darnell
17:27 04 Jun 19
I have recommended Accident Lawyer John Fagan to my family and friends.
The Team at Accident Lawyer John Fagan has... done an outstanding job representing them.read more
Wesley Caton
19:00 04 Apr 19
My experience has been nothing but amazing, Daphne has been astounding and no matter what obscure demand was made by me... or insurance she rolled with punches. Her transparancy really meant a lot to me, she was straight forward with every step we were in.read more
Paul Wheat
19:06 07 Jan 19
Over all it was not bad.. dealing with work comp I found that very few are on your side and no matter who you are, you... are now viewed as a lazy criminal. Debbie was great and communication was clear. Dave did his job but nothing more. I do not feel I was prepared for what I heard in mediation to the extent of the numbers.. as an office 4 stars.. Debbie... 5 stars... the experience... well I'm sorry anyone is even looking for an attorney for help.read more
Dawn Battle
18:56 07 Jan 19
Had a wonderful experience at The Fagan Law Firm! Mr. Daze was wonderful to work with, full of wisdom and helped me get... my settlement quickly. Would use this law firm again!read more
Maria Galarza
15:00 13 Nov 18
My experience was not very pleasant, first we were new clients without any experience about car accidents for that... reason we did not know how the process will be or how long that could last. When we started the process we never got explained step by step how will work. We expected more communication from the person in charge of the case in our case was Adrianne, She never answered a call and when I sent emails I did not get an answer on time, most of the time it took more than 48 hours for her to respond and I was not pleased with the answer of my question (leaving me with doubts about what I was asking) when the case of property damage part was finally over with her, the case goes on demand for the insurer which never I saw some copy but I have to clarify that Mrs Daphne nail was very kind.read more
Kristen Rosepiler
22:41 19 Oct 18
First off, if I could give Daphne ZERO stars, I would. She was terrible with communication! She could never accept a... phone call, I always had to leave messages that she never returned, and didn't even call me on SCHEDULED conference calls.
The three stars is only because of my beginning experiences.....
My case was transferred to Adrienne, if you have a case here, REQUEST HER. She was such a breath of fresh air. She kept me updated via email about everything. I understand that a lot of phone tag happens during these cases, but she kept me updated on everything. Not a week went by that she didn't tell me what was going on. She fought very hard for me to get my bills and med pay down so that my settlement was better. In the end, she turned an awful experience into a good one. She definitely deserves 5 stars!!
Thanks!read more
Chaos with the Christopher's
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22:56 23 Jun 17
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