Amendments to the ADA Become Law

The long awaited amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act became law today. President Bush signed the bill this morning. Thanks and congratuations should be extended to both the business community and the employee rights community for making the compromises that were necessary to bring about this important legislation. The significant changes to the ADA include:

(1) explicitly removing the Supreme Court's requirement in Sutton that mitigating measures be considered when evaluating whether an individual has a disability within the meaning of the ADA;

(2) including language in the findings and purposes section to clarify that the courts' previous interpretations of the term "substantially limits" [in the phrase "substantially limits a major life activity"] were too restrictive;

(3) defining "major life activity" to include "operation of a major bodily function" such as the neurological, circulatory, and reproductive systems (the provision contains a non-exhaustive list);

(4) eliminating the requirement that an individual asserting a "regarded as" claim show that s/he has an impairment that substantially limits a major life activity;

(5) clarifying that an impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active; and

(6) directing the courts to interpret the ADA as a remedial statute, i.e., liberally; and
conforming the definition of "disability" under the federal Rehabilitation Act, which covers federal, state, and local government employees, to the ADA-AA.