House Discusses ADA Restoration Act

Off the radar for a while, the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing yesterday to discuss the ADA Restoration Act (previous post here and here), which would make it easier for disabled individuals to meet the definition of "disability" under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Here is a backgrounder by HR.BLR.com:

Currently, a "disability" is defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the individual's major life activities when using a mitigating measure, such as glasses, pills for hypertension, a hearing aid (Sutton v. United Airlines, Inc., 119 S.Ct. 2139 (1999)). The current definition of a disability also includes having a record of such impairment or being regarded as having such an impairment.

The ADA Restoration Act of 2007 (HR 3195) would redefine "disability" as a physical or mental impairment, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment. In effect, the law would eliminate the requirement for the physical or mental impairment to substantially limit one or more of the individual's major life activities to be covered by the ADA .

The ADA Restoration Act of 2007 would also require that "determination of whether an individual has a physical or mental impairment be made without considering the impact of any mitigating measures the individual may be using or whether any manifestations of an impairment are episodic, in remission, or latent."

Here is the text of the Act. Documents from yesterday's hearing can be found here.

PS