You and the Law Changes to the Meaning of "Disability" Under the
ADA--Part 1 Under the ADA, a person is “disabled” if they meet
one of the following three criteria: 1) The person has a
physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or
more of the person’s major life activities; 2) There is a record
of such an impairment of that person; or 3) The person is
regarded as having such an impairment. In 2008 (effective
January 1, 2009), President Bush signed into law the ADA
Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA). The ADAAA has changed how we
interpret the above criteria to determine whether or not a
person has a disability. In this column, we will focus on how
the ADAAA has changed how the ADA views whether or not a person
has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits
one or more of the person’s major life activities. What does it
mean to have an impairment that substantially limits a major
life activity? The U.S. Supreme Court attempted to answer this
question in the past 10 years in two major