The ADA defines a disability as:
A physical or mental condition that substantially limits at least one of a person’s major life activities, such as eating, hearing, seeing, learning, standing, walking, breathing, hygiene, bending, lifting or sitting
Having a record of such impairment
Being regarded as having such an impairment
Employees also are protected from discrimination for having a history of a condition — such as bipolar disorder, depression or alcoholism, or some other disability — if they no longer have it. The act covers those who were wrongfully perceived to have a condition based on an employer’s faulty assessment that they have or had a disability as well.