Disability defined

The definition of “disability” comes directly from the Americans with Disabilities Act. It means, with respect to an individual:

(A) A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities* of such individual;

(B) A record of such an impairment; or

(C) Being regarded as having such an impairment.

*“Major life activities” include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, working, and the operation of a major bodily function.

There is no list of covered disabilities; whether a disability is covered depends on whether it meets these functional definitions. This means that many disabilities could be covered. They include the ones we usually think of when we think of “handicap” or “disability,” like blindness, deafness, loss of limb, cerebral palsy, birth defect, multiple sclerosis, intellectual disability (formerly called mental retardation). But they also include diseases like cancer and diabetes, and emotional disabilities like obsessive-compulsive disorder if they meet the definition—that is, if they are “impairments that substantially limit a major life activity.”

Reasonable accommodations

In addition to not discriminating on the basis of disability, sponsors must provide a reasonable accommodation to an applicant or apprentice with a disability, unless doing so would cause significant difficulty or expense [“undue hardship”]. A reasonable accommodation is any change in the work environment (or in the way things are usually done) to help a person with a disability apply for a job, perform the duties of a job, or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment. Reasonable accommodation might include, for example, making the workplace accessible for wheelchair users or providing a reader or interpreter for someone who is blind or hearing impaired.