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Overview

The ADA articulates rights of people with disabilities and responsibilities of public and private entities. It identifies their civil rights and provides mechanisms for establishing discrimination in a court of law. And it provides a definition of disability in order to establish clarity about who has rights under the law.

ADA Definition of Disability

The ADA defines disability broadly covering people in three categories:

  • people who currently have a disability,
  • people who have a history of disability, and
  • people who are perceived as disabled by others whether or not they actually have a disability.

The ADA states that “a disability is an impairment, either mental or physical, that limits one or more major life activities.” Major life activities include the ability to care for yourself, learn, work, walk, see, hear, speak, breathe, or maintain social relationships, among others.

ADA Definition of Disability in Context

The ADA promotes accessibility and accommodation for people with disabilities. It works from an assumption about the definition of disability based upon disability residing in the individual. However, it also recognizes that environmental and social barriers are created by a society that systemically makes its own discriminatory assumptions about people’s capacities based on physical, sensory, cognitive and mental differences. It is the world’s first substantive, codified affirmation of design as a civil right.

The World Health Organization Builds on This Definition

The ADA definition aligns with a perspective that disability is a condition of the individual rather than a functional limitation. The Accessing Safety initiative uses the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of disability approved by 191 member states that defines disability as the intersection between the person's functional limitation and the environments one experiences. Most importantly, the WHO defines disability as something that occurs outside of the person that is based on the interaction of the person, his or her functional abilities, and the environment. As such, one is more or less disabled based on whether the physical, information, communication, and social and policy environment are accommodating and welcoming of variation in ability.

It is important to note that one definition builds upon the other. The ADA helps one to meet minimum requirements while the WHO helps one improve services for everyone served -- those with and those without functional limitations.