Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 676

524US2

Unit: $U96

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 624 (1998)

631

Opinion of the Court

We hold respondent’s HIV infection was a disability under
In
subsection (A) of the deﬁnitional section of the statute.
light of this conclusion, we need not consider the applicability
of subsections (B) or (C).

Our consideration of subsection (A) of the deﬁnition pro-
ceeds in three steps. First, we consider whether respond-
ent’s HIV infection was a physical impairment. Second, we
identify the life activity upon which respondent relies (repro-
duction and childbearing) and determine whether it consti-
tutes a major life activity under the ADA. Third, tying the
two statutory phrases together, we ask whether the impair-
ment substantially limited the major life activity.
In con-
struing the statute, we are informed by interpretations of
parallel deﬁnitions in previous statutes and the views of vari-
ous administrative agencies which have faced this interpre-
tive question.

A

The ADA’s deﬁnition of disability is drawn almost verba-
tim from the deﬁnition of “handicapped individual” included
in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 87 Stat. 361, as amended,
29 U. S. C. § 706(8)(B) (1988 ed.), and the deﬁnition of “handi-
cap” contained in the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988,
102 Stat. 1619, 42 U. S. C. § 3602(h)(1) (1988 ed.). Congress’
repetition of a well-established term carries the implica-
tion that Congress intended the term to be construed in ac-
cordance with pre-existing regulatory interpretations. See
FDIC v. Philadelphia Gear Corp., 476 U. S. 426, 437–438
(1986); Commissioner v. Estate of Noel, 380 U. S. 678, 681–
682 (1965); ICC v. Parker, 326 U. S. 60, 65 (1945).
In this
case, Congress did more than suggest this construction; it
adopted a speciﬁc statutory provision in the ADA directing
as follows:

“Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, nothing
in this chapter shall be construed to apply a lesser
standard than the standards applied under title V of the