What counts as a disability under the ADA, New York State law and New York City law

Whether a health condition counts as a "disability" at work depends on which law is being applied. The federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) asks whether an impairment substantially limits a major life activity.⁠^[1] The New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) and the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) define disability by the impairment itself, without that test.⁠^[2][3] Each definition has to be checked separately.

The three definitions side by side

	Federal (ADA)	New York State (NYSHRL)	New York City (NYCHRL)
Core definition	A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.⁠[1]	A physical, mental or medical impairment, resulting from anatomical, physiological, genetic or neurological conditions, which prevents the exercise of a normal bodily function or is demonstrable by medically accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques.⁠[2]	Any physical, medical, mental or psychological impairment.⁠[3]
Past conditions	A record of such an impairment.⁠[1]	A record of such an impairment.⁠[2]	A history or record of such impairment.⁠[3]
Perceived conditions	Being regarded as having an impairment, except one that is transitory and minor.⁠[6]	A condition regarded by others as such an impairment.⁠[2]	The employment provision covers "actual or perceived" disability.⁠[7]
Is ability to do the job part of the definition?	It is a separate question: the ADA protects a "qualified individual," meaning a person who can perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation.⁠[8]	Yes. In employment, the term is limited to disabilities that, with reasonable accommodations, do not prevent the person from performing the job in a reasonable manner.⁠[2]	No. The Court of Appeals has said the City definition does not include reasonable accommodation or the ability to perform a job, and is framed solely in terms of impairments.⁠[9] Under the NYCHRL, inability to satisfy the essential requisites of the job even with accommodation is an affirmative defense.⁠[10]

What counts under the federal ADA?

The ADA's first prong has three parts: an impairment, a major life activity, and a substantial limit. The statute's list of major life activities is not exhaustive. It includes caring for oneself, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating and working, and it also includes the operation of major bodily functions such as the immune, digestive, neurological, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine and reproductive systems.⁠^[11]

Congress amended the ADA in 2008. Since January 1, 2009, the statute has directed that the definition of disability be construed in favor of broad coverage, to the maximum extent its terms permit.⁠^[12] The amended ADA and the EEOC's regulation under it set several rules:

• Under the ADA regulation, an impairment need not prevent, or significantly or severely restrict, a major life activity to be substantially limiting, although not every impairment is a disability.⁠^[13]
• Under the ADA, the helpful effects of medication, equipment, hearing aids, prosthetics, assistive technology and learned behavioral changes are ignored. The exception is ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses.⁠^[5]
• Under the ADA, an impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active.⁠^[14]
• The ADA regulation says it should easily be concluded that certain impairments are substantially limiting, including deafness, blindness, intellectual disability, autism, cancer, cerebral palsy, diabetes, epilepsy, HIV infection, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.⁠^[15]

A separate rule applies to people who rely on "working" as the affected activity. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which covers New York, held in 2020 that under the ADA the inability to perform a single, particular job is not a substantial limitation in the major life activity of working, and that the 2008 amendments did not change that.⁠^[16] The same condition may still limit a different major life activity on the ADA's list.⁠^[11]

"Regarded as" disabled under the ADA

A person is "regarded as" disabled under the ADA when an employer takes a prohibited action because of an actual or perceived impairment, whether or not the impairment limits a major life activity. This prong does not apply to impairments that are transitory and minor, and the ADA defines "transitory" as an actual or expected duration of six months or less.⁠^[6] That six-month line is sometimes read as a rule that short-term conditions are never ADA disabilities. The EEOC's ADA regulation says otherwise for the "actual disability" and "record of" prongs: the effects of an impairment lasting or expected to last fewer than six months can be substantially limiting.⁠^[17] The ADA also provides that an employer need not provide a reasonable accommodation to a person who meets the definition solely under the "regarded as" prong.⁠^[18]

What the ADA leaves out

The ADA states that "disability" does not include compulsive gambling, kleptomania, pyromania, or psychoactive substance use disorders resulting from current illegal use of drugs.⁠^[19] A person currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs is not a qualified individual with a disability under the ADA when the employer acts on the basis of that use, but the exclusion does not apply to someone who has completed supervised rehabilitation and is no longer using.⁠^[20]

What counts under the New York State Human Rights Law?

The NYSHRL definition has two alternative routes: an impairment that prevents the exercise of a normal bodily function, or one that is demonstrable by medically accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques.⁠^[2] In 1985 the Court of Appeals, New York's highest court, read the NYSHRL to cover a range of conditions, from the loss of a bodily function to "merely diagnosable medical anomalies."⁠^[21] In 1998 the Second Circuit applied that reading to hold that a plaintiff's condition was a disability under the NYSHRL, describing the State definition as broader than the ADA's.⁠^[21] That decision predates the 2008 amendments to the ADA.⁠^[12]

The State definition has limits of its own:

• A medical impairment is needed. The Court of Appeals rejected NYSHRL claims by airline employees who failed a weight standard, because they had not shown a medical impairment restricting a normal bodily function.⁠^[7]
• Job performance is built in. In the NYSHRL's employment provisions, the term covers only disabilities that, with reasonable accommodations, do not prevent the person from performing the job in a reasonable manner.⁠^[2] The State regulation adds that reasonable performance is not perfect performance or performance unaffected by the disability.⁠^[22]

Several related protections sit beside the NYSHRL definition. Pregnancy-related conditions are treated as temporary disabilities under the NYSHRL.⁠^[23] Under the State Cannabis Law, being a certified medical cannabis patient is deemed to be having a disability under the NYSHRL.⁠^[24] The NYSHRL separately prohibits employment discrimination because of predisposing genetic characteristics.⁠^[25] The State regulation treats alcoholism and drug addiction as diseases and protects a recovered or recovering person, but not a person currently using drugs illegally.⁠^[26]

What counts under the New York City Human Rights Law?

The NYCHRL definition reads: any physical, medical, mental or psychological impairment, or a history or record of one, where "impairment" means an impairment of any system of the body or a mental or psychological impairment.⁠^[3] The NYC Commission on Human Rights, which enforces the NYCHRL, says in its December 2025 guidance that temporary and short-term injuries as well as chronic conditions may qualify, even if the condition does not substantially limit a major life activity.⁠^[27][28]

The NYCHRL definition has an express limit. For alcoholism, drug addiction or other substance abuse, the City definition applies only to a person who is recovering or has recovered and currently is free of such abuse.⁠^[29] The NYCHRL also lists height and weight as protected categories in employment, separate from disability.⁠^[7]

How have courts compared the three definitions?

The Second Circuit has written that disability is more broadly defined under the NYSHRL and the NYCHRL than under the ADA.⁠^[30] In 2009 the Appellate Division, First Department, put the order this way: "The State HRL provides protections broader than the ADA; and the City HRL is broader still."⁠^[30] The State Division of Human Rights' regulation makes the same comparison between the State definition and federal law.⁠^[4] The ADA itself does not limit a State or local law that gives equal or greater protection.⁠^[31]

Having a disability is the first question, not the last. Each law then asks whether the person could do the job with a reasonable accommodation and whether the employer acted because of the disability.⁠^[8][2][10] Those questions are covered in reasonable accommodation and how discrimination is proved.

For specific kinds of conditions, see the pages on mental health conditions, temporary injuries and short-term conditions, addiction, alcoholism and medical cannabis and pregnancy accommodations. If an employer acted on a mistaken belief about your health, or because of a family member's condition, see perceived disability and association discrimination. To check whether each law applies to your employer at all, see which employers are covered, and for the wider picture return to the disability discrimination overview.