12 year old commits suicide after being bullied for alopecia

[Ms. Toad]

80. Non-experts determine whether someone has a disablity.

What makes it a disablity, in the eyes of the law, are facts (as evaluate by a jury) which meet the legal definition of a disability (as the law is explained to the jury by the judge). Whether you like it or not, that's how disability is determined under the ADA.

And whether you think the definitino is too broad - it is what Congress intended. Courts, for years after enactment of the ADA, tried to limit the definition of disablity to a much narrower group of conditions - and in response to those narrowing decisions, in 2008, Congresss amended the law to reinforce that they really did intend disability to be broadly interpreted.

On September 25, 2008, the President signed the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 ("ADA Amendments Act" or "Act" ). The Act emphasizes that the definition of disability should be construed in favor of broad coverage of individuals to the maximum extent permitted by the terms of the ADA and generally shall not require extensive analysis.

The Act makes important changes to the definition of the term "disability" by rejecting the holdings in several Supreme Court decisions and portions of EEOC's ADA regulations. The effect of these changes is to make it easier for an individual seeking protection under the ADA to establish that he or she has a disability within the meaning of the ADA.

https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/americans-disabilities-act-amendments-act-2008