The National Business & Disability Council

On September 25, 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), which was intended to give broader protections for workers with disabilities and "turn back the clock" on court rulings which Congress deemed too restrictive. The ADAAA makes changes to the definition of the term "disability," clarifying and broadening that definition, and therefore, the number and types of persons who are protected under the ADA and other Federal disability nondiscrimination laws. The ADAAA was designed to strike a balance between employer and employee interests. The ADAAA requires that courts interpreting the ADA and other Federal disability nondiscrimination laws focus on whether the covered entity has discriminated, rather than whether the individual seeking the law's protection has an impairment that fits within the technical definition of the term "disability." 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, and therefore, the determination of whether any particular condition is considered a disability should be made on a case by case basis.