The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) embodies the social model of disability by shifting the focus from a person’s medical condition to barriers erected by society that those people experience.
The ADA does not list specific disabilities but instead uses a point of view through the lens of impairments to major life activities. A partial list of these major life activities includes:
Breathing
Walking
Thinking
Talking
Hearing
Seeing
Sleeping
Eating
When we prioritize needs over diagnoses, we can more clearly identify what barriers should be anticipated or removed and better include the person with disability.
Alt: The ADA focuses on the needs of people with disabilities, not their medical diagnosis.