The ADA prohibits employment discrimination against “qualified individuals with disabilities.” A qualified individual with a disability is an individual with a disability, who meets the skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of a position held or desired, and who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of a job.

To understand who is and who is not protected by the ADA, it is first necessary to understand the Act’s definition of an “individual with a disability” and then determine if the individual meets the Act’s definition of a “qualified individual with a disability.”

• Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his/her major life activities
• Has a record of such an impairment
• Is regarded as having such an impairment

To be a disability covered by the ADA, an impairment must substantially limit one or more major life activities. These are activities that an average person can perform with little or no difficulty.

Examples of major life activities are:

• walking
• seeing
• speaking
• hearing
• breathing
• learning
• performing manual tasks
• working
• sitting
• standing
• lifting
• reading

The regulations provide three factors to consider in determining whether a person’s impairment substantially limits a major life activity:

1. Its nature and severity
2. How long it will last or is expected to last
3. Its permanent or long term impact, or expected impact

These factors must be considered because, generally, it is not the name of an impairment or a condition that determines whether a person is protected by the ADA, but rather the effect of an impairment or condition on the life of a particular person.

Reasonable accommodation is a critical component of the ADA’s assurance of nondiscrimination. Reasonable accommodation is any change in the work environment or in the way things are usually done that results in equal employment opportunity for an individual with a disability.


An employer must make a reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified applicant or employee with a disability unless it can show that the accommodation would cause an undue hardship on the operation of its business. An employer is not required to lower quality or quantity standards to make an accommodation. Nor is an employer obligated to provide personal use items, such as glasses or hearing aids, as accommodations.


An employer is not required to provide an accommodation if it will impose an undue hardship on the operation of its business. Undue hardship is defined by the ADA as an action that is “excessively costly, extensive, substantial, or disruptive, or that would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of the business.”


In determining undue hardship, factors to be considered include the nature and cost of the accommodation in relation to the size, the financial resources, the nature and structure of the employer’s operation, as well as the impact of the accommodation on the specific facility providing the accommodation.