The “regarded as” prong of the ADA’s definition of disability protects an individual from discrimination based on an employer’s belief that he or she has a disability. And while the standard has deep roots in the statute, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 lowered the bar for “regarded as” claims.
The focus for establishing coverage under that prong is now on “how a person has been treated because of a physical or mental impairment (that is not transitory and minor), rather than on what an employer may have believed about the nature of the person’s impairment,” according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Notably, however, only individuals covered by the definition’s first two prongs — actual disability and record of disability — are entitled to reasonable accommodations.
