Disability Law Commons^™

Applying The Ada To Mitigating Measures Cases: A Choice Of Statutory Evils, Lisa A. Eichhorn

Faculty Publications

This Article critiques the idea that the ADA should exclude from its coverage people who use mitigating measures, such as medications and medical devices, to alleviate the effects of their mental and physical impairments. After describing the statute as an expansive but flawed tool for combating disability-based discrimination, the Article analyzes a 1999 trilogy of Supreme Court cases holding that in determining whether a person has a disability for purposes of ADA coverage, courts should take account of the ameliorative effects of so-called mitigating measures on the person’s impairments. Through this holding, the Court inappropriately constricted the scope of the …