The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued four revised documents on protection against disability discrimination, pursuant to the goal of the agency's Strategic Plan to provide up-to-date guidance on the requirements of antidiscrimination laws.


The documents address how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to applicants and employees with cancer (http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/cancer.cfm), diabetes (http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/diabetes.cfm), epilepsy (http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/epilepsy.cfm), and intellectual disabilities (http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/intellectual_disabilities.cfm). These documents are available on the agency's website at "Disability Discrimination, The Question and Answer Series," http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/disability.cfm.


In plain, easy-to-understand language, the revised documents reflect the changes to the definition of disability made by the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) that make it easier to conclude that individuals with a wide range of impairments, including cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, and intellectual disabilities, are protected by the ADA. Each of the documents also answers questions about topics such as: when an employer may obtain medical information from applicants and employees; what types of reasonable accommodations individuals with these particular disabilities might need; how an employer should handle safety concerns; and what an employer should do to prevent and correct disability-based harassment.