The following is a list of ways in which psychiatric disabilities may limit major life activities. While the list is not exhaustive, it is intended to assist advocates in analyzing whether a person with a psychiatric impairment is a "person with a disability" under the ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act.

I. Limitations on Major Life Activities:

Social/Emotional:

interaction with others (e.g., speech difficulties such as pressured speech, lack of clarity, withdrawal or responding with difficulty or too quickly; self-absorption; inability to relate to or listen to others, including inability to relate due to paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, obsessive-compulsive ideation, negativity; inability to regulate mood or anxiety; inability to maintain appropriate distance from others)

forming and maintaining relationships with others

communication with others (e.g., answering questions, following directions, using intelligible speech, recognizing and expressing emotions appropriately, expressing needs, following a sequence)

concentration (as a major life activity itself and also resulting in limitations on other major life activities, such as interaction with others, self-care)

making decisions

complex thinking (e.g., planning, reconciling perceptions from different senses (seeing and hearing), sorting relevant from irrelevant details, problem solving, changing from one task to another)

abstract thinking (e.g., difficulty generalizing or transferring learning from one setting to another, such as difficulty transferring skill of cooking in one kitchen to another kitchen)

memory (long or short term)

attention

perception

distinguishing real from unreal events

initiating and completing actions

processing information

taking care of personal needs, such as eating, dressing, toileting, bathing, hygiene, household chores, managing money, following medication or treatment regimens, following safety precautions

eating (e.g., inability to regulate amounts appropriately or to maintain appropriate diet; need for strict eating schedule)

sleeping (e.g., inability to fall asleep, obtain restful sleep, or sleep without interruption; excessive sleeping)

reproduction

sexual activity

traveling

Social/Emotional:

giving directions

requesting clarification

initiating interpersonal contact

asking for feedback on job performance

responding appropriately to negative feedback

initiating corrective action

providing explanations

describing events

using intelligible speech

responding appropriately to supervision

maintaining relationships with supervisors

responding appropriately to supervisors

maintaining relationships with coworkers

responding appropriately to coworkers

adapting to a new supervisor

understanding, remembering, carrying out directions

assessing own performance

making decisions

exercising judgment

setting work priorities on a daily, weekly or monthly basis

problem-solving capacity (managing multiple pressures or stresses, balancing work and home life, solving routine problems that make it possible to work -- e.g., getting up on time, taking public transportation, dealing with traffic, wearing appropriate clothing, doing laundry)

recognizing when to stop doing one task and to move on to another

learning new tasks

transferring learning

adapting to a change in work assignment (e.g., a corporate re-organization)

focusing on multiple tasks simultaneously

screening out environmental stimuli (e.g., noise, visual distractions, etc.)

processing information (e.g., understanding, analyzing or synthesizing)

maintaining boundaries of responsibility

maintaining fixed work schedule (e.g., need for flexible schedule or breaks or modified hours due to the impairment, the effects of medication, or the need for appointments to receive treatment; need for leave to receive acute treatment)

maintaining work pace

maintaining stamina throughout the work day

Social/Emotional:

interaction with others (due to agitation, flattened affect or withdrawal caused by medication)

concentration

ability to perform daily activities

concentration

thinking (e.g., slowed thought process)

seeing (e.g., blurred vision)

reproduction (e.g., sexual dysfunction or possibility of birth defects)

sexual activity (e.g., sexual dysfunction)

writing, grasping, lifting (e.g., loss of fine motor control, uncontrolled muscle movement, or muscle rigidity)

speaking (e.g., slurred speech)

sleeping (e.g., inability to fall asleep, obtain restful sleep, or sleep without interruption; excessive sleeping)

eating (e.g., restrictions on types or amounts of foods or eating times due to medication regimes, or dute to liver damage or high blood pressure caused by medication)

eliminating waste (e.g., incontinence, diarrhea, urgency or frequency of need to urinate or defecate)

walking/ambulation (e.g., excessive weight gain, muscle rigidity)

driving (e.g., drowsiness, loss of fine motor control, uncontrolled muscle movement or muscle rigidity)

working (e.g., most of limitations listed above)

any of the above may recur intermittently despite medication or therapy

may be at risk of any of the above occurring despite medication or therapy

any of the above may be residual limitations remaining despite medication or therapy

Unfortunately, the ADA is being weakened by pro-employer courts that have forbidden psychologically injured employees to require a change of supervisor as part of a 'reasonable accommodation' to minimize the impact of the injury. That is, removal of the perpetrator is not something you can request under ADA.

-- WBI