What is all this nonsense about people not being able to hand fly either with or without FD, or fly ILS. What utter crap. If you don't practice now and again, sure your your handling might be a bit rough (i.e. not so smooth) but your not going to turn into a jellyfish...like some people on here seem to think. And if your company lets you turn the FD off then turn it off if you want, if they don't leave it on.
In any case the FD doesn't always have the same objective as the pilot flying with regards to rates etc etc....so begs the question, when the company says FD on..but do not specify.....FD on and follow the FD, do they actually want you to follow them? because if you haven't programmed them properly they may not give you the guidance you want...also if you begin a manoeuvre before updating the AP or FMC the FD is very slow to update and "join you" in the manoeuvre, I can only speak for one of the Boeing types I have operated where we were not restricted by SOP's.