ADA Amendments Act of 2008 Summary and Resources Current as of October 14, 2008 Summary On September 25, 2008, the ADA Amendment Act (ADAAA) was signed into law. It will become effective on January 1, 2009. The U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives both unanimously passed the ADAAA. The ADAAA focuses on the discrimination at issue instead of the individual's disability. It makes important changes to the definition of the term "disability" by rejecting the holdings in several Supreme Court decisions and portions of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) ADA regulations. The Act retains the ADA's basic definition of "disability" as an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment. However, it changes the way that the statutory terms should be interpreted. Most significantly, the ADAAA: * Directs EEOC to revise the portion of its regulations that defines the term "substantially limits"; * Expands the definition of "major life activities" by including two non-exhaustive lists: 1. The first list includes many activities that the EEOC has recognized (e.g., walking) as well as activities that EEOC has not specifically recognized (e.g., reading, bending, and communicating); 2. The second list includes major bodily functions (e.g., "functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, respiratory, neurological, brain, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions"); * States that mitigating measures other than "ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses" shall not be considered in assessing whether an individual has a disability; * Clarifies that an impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active; * Provides that an individual subjected to an action prohibited by the ADA (e.g., failure to hire) because of an actual or perceived impairment will meet the "regarded as" definition of disability, unless the impairment is transitory and minor; * Provides that individuals covered only under the "regarded as" prong are not entitled to reasonable accommodation; and * Emphasizes that the definition of "disability" should be interpreted broadly. Source: EEOC Notice Concerning Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 www.eeoc.gov/ada/amendments_notice.html Resources Text of the Law: ADA Amendments Act of 2008 [PDF file] www.law.georgetown.edu/archiveada/documents/ADAAACR9.17.08.pdf Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Statement - ADA Amendments Act of 2008 www.eeoc.gov/ada/amendments_notice.html ADA Amendments Act of 2008 Website www.adabill.com Legal Bulletin: ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (developed by the DBTAC: Southwest ADA Center) www.dlrp.org/html/publications/ebulletins/legal/2008/oct2008.html ArchiveADA: The Path to Equality – ADA Amendments Act of 2008 www.law.georgetown.edu/archiveada/#ADAAA ADA Amendments Act Summary and Resources Page 2 of 2 1419 Mayson Street, Atlanta, GA 30324 Phone: (404) 541-9001 or (800) 949-4232 (v/tty) Fax: (404) 541-9002 Email: sedbtacproject@law.syr.edu Web: www.sedbtac.org Funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education #H133A060094