How does the law define a disabled individual?
There are many different legal definitions of a disabled individual. Social Security, OWCP, and your State’s unemployment commission will likely define it in all different ways. Under the ADA and Rehab Act, a federal employee is disabled if (s)he “has a medical condition which substantially limits them in a major life activity”. You may be thinking, “That’s not really all that helpful”, and we would agree. We think the courts wrote it that way for a reason. Each case is decided on its own merits – sometimes migraines may be a disability, sometimes they will not. Sometimes a hearing impairment will be a disability, and sometimes it won’t. The key is, essentially, a comparison of how your medical condition limits your daily lifestyle as compared to the average person in the population.
