Definition+of+Disability

[|Dear Colleague Letter - Issued from the Department of Education regarding the ADA Amendments of 2009 - January 19, 2012]

The list of **major life activities** in the ADA now includes, but is 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 [|9] ||

The Amendments Act specifies that:  For example, consider a student who has Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) but is not receiving special education or related services, and is achieving good grades in academically rigorous classes. School districts **should not assume that this student's academic success necessarily means that the student is not substantially limited in a major life activity** and therefore is not a person with a disability. In passing the Amendments Act, the managers of the Senate bill **rejected the assumption that an individual with a specific learning disability who performs well academically cannot be substantially limited in activities such as learning, reading, writing, thinking, or speaking**.  [|14]  Thus, grades alone are an insufficient basis upon which to determine whether a student has a disability. Moreover, they may not be the determinative factor in deciding whether a student with a disability needs special education or related aids or services. Grades are just one consideration and do not provide information on how much effort or how many outside resources are required for the student to achieve those grades. Additionally, the Committee on Education and Labor in the House of Representatives cautioned that "an individual with an impairment that substantially limits a major life activity should not be penalized when seeking protection under the ADA simply because he or she managed their own adaptive strategies or received informal or undocumented accommodations that have the effect of lessening the deleterious impacts of their disability." 
 * An impairment need not prevent or severely or significantly restrict a major life activity to be considered substantially limiting. //Id.//
 * In the phrase "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity," the term "substantially limits" shall be interpreted **without regard to the ameliorative effects of mitigating measures**, other than ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses. Amendments Act § 4(a) (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 12102). Mitigating measures are things like medications, prosthetic devices, assistive devices, or learned behavioral or adaptive neurological modifications that an individual may use to eliminate or reduce the effects of an impairment. These measures cannot be considered when determining whether a person has a substantially limiting impairment. Therefore, impairments that may not have previously been considered to be disabilities because of the ameliorative effects of mitigating measures might now meet the Section 504 and ADA definition of disability. For example, a student who has an allergy and requires allergy shots to manage that condition would be covered under Section 504 and Title II if, without the shots, the allergy would substantially limit a major life activity.
 * **An impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if, when in an active phase, it would substantially limit a major life activity.** Amendments Act § 4(a) (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 12102). For example, a student with bipolar disorder would be covered if, during manic or depressive episodes, the student is substantially limited in a major life activity (//e.g.//, thinking, concentrating, neurological function, or brain function).
 * For the "regarded as" prong of the disability definition, if an individual can establish that he or she has been subjected to an act prohibited by Title II or Section 504 (//e.g.//, refused admission or expelled or denied equal access to educational programs) because of an actual or perceived physical or mental impairment, then he or she is entitled to protection under these laws. **The Amendments Act clarifies that the statutory protections apply whether or not the individual actually has the impairment, and also whether or not the impairment is perceived to be a substantial limitation on a major life activity**. [|7] //See// Amendments Act § 4(a) (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 12102). For example, consider a nondisabled student whose mother is a well-known AIDS activist in the community. After the student transfers schools at mid-year, he is harassed by other students based on their mistaken assumption that he has AIDS. This student, who is regarded as having an impairment, would be protected by the ADA and Section 504.

- taken from [] (emphasis added)