Central Importance of Life Activities Requirement Under ADA

Approximately two and a half years after a series of decisions addressing mitigating measures, the Supreme Court addressed the question of how narrowly a major life activity should be construed in order to determine whether or not a physical or mental impairment was substantially limiting. In Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams , a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the analysis of a physical impairment's limitation upon the ability to perform manual tasks could not be limited to an assessment of only those tasks performed at work. Rather, according to the Court, to be considered ''disabled'' under the ADA, an individual must have a physical or mental impairment that prevents or severely restricts the person from performing activities that are of ''central importance'' to most people's daily lives.