Six states had more than 50 cases, including Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, California, and Kansas. The plaintiffs in these cases experienced a wide range of disabilities and impairments. The most common impairment alleged was back injuries, with 207 cases. However, plaintiffs with such impairments did not necessarily fare very well in court. Major life activities include walking, speaking, seeing, hearing, learning and working.
Plaintiffs can identify more than one major life activity in which they experience limitations.
For a plaintiff to show a substantial limitation in his or her ability to work, the plaintiff must prove a limitation in a broad range of jobs, not just in one job in particular. Plaintiffs lose on summary judgment motions for a variety of reasons. In one third of the cases surveyed where plaintiffs lost, plaintiffs were unable to prove that their limitations were substantial enough to meet the ADA standard. Acrobat Reader for PDFs. Get Acrobat's Acrobat's Accessibility Reader for PDFs .