Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, major life activities are the everyday tasks and internal bodily functions Congress named as central to daily life — things like walking, seeing, hearing, learning, sleeping, and thinking, along with the operation of systems like the immune, neurological, digestive, and endocrine systems. If a physical or mental impairment substantially limits even one activity on that list, you have a disability under federal law and you’re entitled to protection from discrimination and, in most cases, reasonable accommodations at work.
The Full List of Major Life Activities
The statute names two categories. The first is everyday tasks. The second, added by the 2008 ADA Amendments Act, is the operation of major bodily functions. Both are treated equally under the law.
Everyday Tasks
The ADA identifies these activities by name:1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 12102 – Definition of Disability
- Caring for yourself
- Performing manual tasks
- Seeing
- Hearing
- Eating
- Sleeping
- Walking
- Standing
- Lifting
- Bending
- Speaking
- Breathing
- Learning
- Reading
- Concentrating
- Thinking
- Communicating
- Working
These span physical activities (walking, lifting, breathing), cognitive activities (learning, reading, concentrating, thinking), and communicative activities (speaking, hearing, communicating). The groupings overlap on purpose. Someone with severe anxiety may be limited in concentrating, thinking, and communicating at the same time, and only needs to show a substantial limitation in one of them to qualify.
Major Bodily Functions
The second category covers the operation of internal systems:1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 12102 – Definition of Disability
- Immune system
- Normal cell growth
- Digestive system
- Bowel
- Bladder
- Neurological system
- Brain
- Respiratory system
- Circulatory system
- Endocrine system
- Reproductive system
Adding this category was one of the most consequential changes in the 2008 amendments. Before it, someone with diabetes, HIV, cancer, or Crohn’s disease often had to prove the internal condition affected an outward task, such as showing cancer made it hard to walk. Now, if your endocrine system doesn’t function properly because of diabetes, that alone is a limitation on a major life activity. No need to tie it to a visible task like lifting or standing.
The EEOC identifies several conditions that commonly qualify under these provisions, including cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, HIV infection, major depression, PTSD, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and visual and hearing disabilities.2U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. People with Certain Types of Health Conditions/Disabilities
The List Is Not Exhaustive
The statute is explicit that the named activities are examples, not the complete universe. Other activities of comparable importance can also qualify. The test is whether the activity is of central importance to daily life. If it is, courts will treat it as a major life activity even if Congress didn’t spell it out.
You also only need one. An impairment that substantially limits a single major life activity qualifies as a disability under the ADA, and no showing about any other activity is required.3eCFR. 29 CFR 1630.2 – Definitions
What “Substantially Limits” Means
The list of activities only matters when paired with the “substantially limits” threshold. After the 2008 amendments, that threshold is intentionally low. The EEOC’s regulations lay out the ground rules:3eCFR. 29 CFR 1630.2 – Definitions
- The standard is not demanding. Your impairment doesn’t have to prevent you from performing the activity, or even severely restrict you. A meaningful limitation compared to most people in the general population is enough.
- Courts must read the term broadly, in favor of expansive coverage.
- The analysis is individualized but usually straightforward. Extensive scientific or medical evidence isn’t required, and common sense often suffices.
- Limitation in one activity is enough.
The comparison point is most people in the general population. If your impairment makes an activity materially harder for you than it is for most people, that’s a substantial limitation, and the comparison is usually obvious enough on its own without formal statistical proof.
Conditions Get Evaluated Without Medication or Devices
When deciding whether you’re substantially limited, your condition must be looked at in its unmedicated, unassisted state. Medication, hearing aids, prosthetic limbs, mobility devices, assistive technology, and learned behavioral modifications all get ignored. If your hearing loss would substantially limit hearing without hearing aids, you have a disability, even if the aids work perfectly.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 12102 – Definition of Disability
There is one exception: ordinary eyeglasses and contact lenses. If your vision is fully corrected by standard lenses, the corrected vision is what gets evaluated. The exception doesn’t extend to low-vision devices or specialized lenses.
Episodic Conditions and Conditions in Remission
An impairment that comes and goes, or that’s currently in remission, still counts as a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active. The statute says so directly, overruling earlier court decisions that had treated conditions like epilepsy, bipolar disorder, and cancer as too intermittent or too short-lived to qualify.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 12102 – Definition of Disability
The practical effect is significant. Someone whose cancer is in remission remains protected. Someone with epilepsy who hasn’t had a seizure in months remains protected. What matters is the severity of the limitation when the condition is active, not how often it flares or how briefly it lasts. Conditions the Department of Justice specifically identifies as potentially episodic include hypertension, diabetes, asthma, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.4ADA.gov. Amendment of ADA Title II and Title III Regulations to Implement ADA Amendments Act of 2008
Why the List Is Read So Generously
Before 2008, a series of Supreme Court decisions had narrowed the ADA’s coverage to the point where people with cancer, epilepsy, and diabetes were being told they didn’t qualify. Courts spent so much energy analyzing the nature of a person’s impairment that the actual question, whether the employer discriminated, often never got addressed.5U.S. Department of Justice. Questions and Answers About the DOJ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Implement the ADAAA of 2008
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 explicitly rejected those decisions and directed that the definition of disability be construed broadly, in favor of covering as many people as possible. The law also stated that determining whether someone has a disability should not demand extensive analysis. That’s why the list of major life activities is written the way it is, expansive, non-exhaustive, and paired with a low limitation threshold.6U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008
What Qualifying Gets You
If you have an actual impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, or a record of one, you’re entitled to reasonable accommodations at work. Common examples include making workspaces physically accessible, restructuring job duties, offering modified or part-time schedules, acquiring or modifying equipment, changing testing or training procedures, and providing qualified readers or interpreters.7U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the ADA
You don’t have to say “reasonable accommodation” or mention the ADA to start the process. Telling your employer you need a change at work because of a medical condition is enough. From there, the employer is expected to engage in an informal, interactive process to identify what will work.
One boundary worth flagging: the ADA also protects people who were “regarded as” having an impairment, even one that isn’t actually limiting. That prong shields you from adverse actions like termination, demotion, or refusal to hire, but it does not entitle you to reasonable accommodations, and it doesn’t apply to impairments that are both transitory (lasting six months or less) and minor.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 12102 – Definition of Disability