ADA Policy Brief Series #4: Broad or Narrow Construction of the ADA

December 16, 2002

SCOPE AND PURPOSE:

This policy brief examines the language and legislative history of the ADA, and the legal principles in place at the time it was enacted, to determine what information can be found there regarding how narrowly or broadly Congress intended the definition of disability in the ADA to be construed, and to ascertain whether the Supreme Court’s narrow construction of the definition is consistent with or antagonistic to the statutory language, legislative history, and previously recognized legal principles.