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Expanding Opportunities for Workers with Disabilities

Defining Disability¹

Who are we talking about when we say, “workers with disabilities?” The answer is not as straightforward as you might think because there is no universal definition of disability. However, there are two conceptualizations of disability that most definitions fit into: impairment and activity limitation.

Impairment is a broad concept. It is defined as a physical or mental loss or condition that limits a person’s ability to function. Examples of impairments include hearing loss or loss of a limb. Activity limitation is a narrower concept of disability; not everyone with an impairment has an activity limitation. An activity limitation is an impairment that leads to an inability to perform, or a limitation in performing, roles and tasks such as reading, talking on the phone or cooking dinner.

To illustrate, a worker with deafness would have a disability under the impairment definition. However, the worker would not have a disability under the activity-limitation definition if he or she was accommodated with a TTY machine that facilitated telephone use.

Differences in the definition of disability exist within government laws and regulations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act uses an impairment definition of disability:
“…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 such an impairment.”

Whereas, the Social Security Administration uses a more restrictive activity-limitation definition of disability in determining benefits eligibility:
“The inability to engage in [gainful employment] because of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment(s):

Using the impairment definition always leads to more people being reported as having a disability than in instances when the activity-limitation definition is used.

¹This discussion is drawn from: Burkhauser, R.V., Houtenville, A.J., & Wittenburg, D. (2003). “A user guide to current statistics on the employment of people with disabilities,” in R. V. Burkhauser & D. Stapleton (Eds.), The Decline in the Employment of People with Disabilities: A policy puzzle. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. <return to text>

 

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