- Under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, an individual is considered to have a "disability" if he or she:
- has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities;
- has a record of such an impairment or
- is regarded as having such an impairment.
Some examples of impairments which substantially limit major life activities include: seeing, hearing, speaking, walking, breathing, performing manual tasks, learning, caring for oneself, and working. Temporary impairments of short duration are not covered.
- Under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, a disability is defined as a:
- physical disability, infirmity, malformation or disfigurement;
- physical illness or disease;
- mental, psychological or developmental disability that results from conditions which prevent the normal exercise of any bodily or mental function or which can be shown to exist through accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic tests.
Some examples of impairments which constitute a disability under the state law, include but [is] are not limited to: paralysis, amputation, epilepsy, visual or hearing impairments, speech impediments, AIDS, HIV infection, sickle cell trait and other atypical hereditary cellular or blood traits, deafness, blindness, obesity, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis.
This state law also extends to protect persons who are perceived or believed to be [suffering from a disability] disabled, whether or not the medical conditions from which they suffer have in fact made them disabled.
