Also known as: substantially limit · substantially limiting · substantially limited · ADA disability definition
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A restriction on a landlord's discretion to refuse tenants. Federal and state anti-discrimination statutes impose this restriction to prevent refusals based on protected characteristics such as race, religion, or national origin.
A restriction on a landlord's discretion to refuse tenants. Federal and state anti-discrimination statutes impose this restriction to prevent refusals based on protected characteristics such as race, religion, or national origin.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The degree of interference that a physical or mental impairment causes with one or more major life activities. This degree of interference determines whether the impairment qualifies as a disability under statutes such as the ADA.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The degree of interference that a physical or mental impairment causes with one or more major life activities. This degree of interference determines whether the impairment qualifies as a disability under statutes such as the ADA.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Riverfront Media owns a building with loft apartments. Its leasing agent rejects Layla's application after noting her headscarf and foreign accent, citing neighbor concerns about extreme views. Layla sues under fair-housing statutes. The statutes substantially limit the landlord's freedom to refuse tenants on invidious grounds, allowing recovery.
The term describes how anti-discrimination statutes restrict a landlord's traditional freedom to refuse tenants. Courts apply the statutes to refusals based on protected characteristics such as religion or national origin. The restriction supplies the basis for damages and injunctive relief.
Supporting sources
The Transit Authority bars all methadone users from employment. Several applicants who have completed treatment sue, claiming they are handicapped individuals. The court holds that current drug use prevents performance of job duties, so the impairment does not substantially limit major life activities under the statute.
A court orders a one-for-one promotion requirement for state troopers to remedy past discrimination. White applicants challenge the order as unduly burdensome. The temporary and limited nature of the quota substantially limits any burden on innocent third parties, so the order survives review.
A state employee with a back impairment is terminated after requesting modified duties. She sues under the ADA, alleging an actual disability. The court examines whether the impairment substantially limits a major life activity such as working or lifting, which determines coverage under the statute.
The term requires that a physical or mental impairment interfere with major life activities to a substantial degree. Only one of the three statutory definitions of disability needs to be met. Conditions excluded by statute never qualify regardless of the degree of limitation.
Supporting sources
The term applies to actual impairments that substantially limit major life activities. Separate statutory prongs cover records of impairment and being regarded as having an impairment. A person satisfies the definition by meeting any one of the three prongs.
Supporting sources
…III), provides: “[T]he term handicapped individual’ . . . means any person who (i) has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of such person’s major life activities, (ii) has a record of such an impairment, or (iii) is regarded as having such an impairment. For purposes of sections 503 and 504 as such…