Activities of daily living are simply the normal, basic activities that most people must engage in as a requirement of daily living. They include personal hygeine (bathing, dressing), meal preparation (breakfast, lunch, dinner), shopping (grocery and other shopping), and standard home maintenance activities such as sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, laundry, and dish washing.

In processing Social Security Disability and ssi claims, examiners at DDS (disability determination services) will often contact claimants to gather information on their ability to perform such activities of daily living. These are known as ADL calls.

What is the point of ADL calls? Technically, the purpose is to discover the extent to which a social security claimant is significantly restricted by a medical condition, or impairment.

And, ideally, information gathered in such contacts should be used to "fill in the gaps" regarding a claimant's physical limitations.

Unfortunately, ADL calls OR ADL forms sent by mail, are typically used against disability claimants. In fact, they are often conducted after an examiner (or an examiner's supervisor) has already determined that a claim should be denied.

It can be argued that ADL questions are subtly phrased for the purpose of gathering just the right responses so denials can be more easily justified.

Examiners who process social security disability claims, however, do not restrict ADL questioning to claimants only.

Sometimes, ADL calls have been known to call a claimant's neighbors, friends, or relatives, and sometimes past employers. And the contact information to allow such calls has usually been provided by the claimant on the disability application.

For this reason, it is usually wise for disability claimants to keep everyone within their circle of contacts up-to-date regarding their medical condition and status.