The ADA Explained
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal civil rights law that protects qualified individuals with disabilities from discrimination in the workplace. In general, the ADA applies to employers with 15 or more employees.
The goal of the ADA is to help ensure that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else — to apply for jobs, continue working, advance in their careers, and participate fully in the workplace. The law also requires many employers to provide reasonable accommodations that help qualified employees perform their jobs.
The ADA defines disability broadly. In general, a person has a disability if they have:
- a physical or mental impairment, and
- that impairment substantially limits one or more major life activities.
"Major life activities" include many everyday actions and bodily functions, such as:
- Thinking, concentrating, learning, and communicating
- Seeing and hearing
- Walking, standing, lifting, and bending
- Speaking, eating, sleeping, and breathing
- Working
- The operation of major bodily functions, such as circulation
The term "substantially limits" is also interpreted broadly. The law is intended to protect people whose medical conditions meaningfully affect important areas of daily life.
Brenda Roberts
What "Major Life Activities" Really Means
Read the transcript
When people first hear terms like "mental impairment" or "major life activity," it can feel like they're reading a legal textbook instead of something written about their own life.
Here's what it really means.
If dementia affects the way you think, concentrate, remember, or communicate, the law already recognizes that as a major life activity.
You don't need special language to describe what you're experiencing. You simply need to describe how dementia affects your day. That is exactly the kind of information the law is designed to protect.
Understanding this can take some of the intimidation out of a very legal-sounding term.