Disability

Disability has different legal meanings depending on the law involved, which is a common source of confusion. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12102, a disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having one. Major life activities include walking, seeing, hearing, breathing, working, and the operation of major bodily functions. This definition controls civil rights protections, such as reasonable accommodations at work and accessible businesses and websites.

Disability for benefits purposes is a separate test: Social Security disability generally requires that you cannot do any substantial work because of a condition expected to last at least 12 months or result in death, which is much stricter than the ADA definition. Private long-term disability insurance uses its own policy definitions, often "own occupation" for the first period and "any occupation" after that.

Each definition leads to different kinds of cases. ADA lawsuits include claims that websites or stores are not accessible and claims that employers refused accommodations. Disability insurance lawsuits challenge denials or terminations of benefits, and when the policy comes from an employer, they are usually governed by ERISA, which has its own appeal rules and deadlines. Some insurers have faced class actions over how they handled claims across many policyholders.

If you were denied benefits, get the denial letter, the full policy, and your claim file in writing, and note the appeal deadline right away. Our long-term disability denial page and Social Security disability entry explain the next steps.