## Facts

- Ella Williams worked at Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky plant beginning in 1990, performing assembly-line work using pneumatic tools.
- She developed pain in her hands, wrists, and arms and was diagnosed with bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and bilateral tendinitis.
- Her physician imposed work restrictions; Toyota reassigned her to alternative positions in an effort to accommodate her limitations.
- Williams later worked in Quality Control Inspection Operations (QCIO), performing visual inspections that both parties agreed she could do satisfactorily.
- In 1996 Toyota modified the QCIO job to include additional physical tasks that Williams said worsened her condition and that she could not perform.
- After periods of medical absence, Toyota terminated Williams in 1997 for poor attendance.
- Williams sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), alleging failure to provide a reasonable accommodation.

## Issues

1. Whether a worker is “substantially limited” in the ADA major life activity of “performing manual tasks” when the impairment primarily restricts only specific job-related manual tasks.
2. Whether the disability inquiry must consider limitations on tasks of central importance to most people’s daily lives, including personal and household activities.

## Decision

- The Court unanimously vacated the Sixth Circuit’s judgment and remanded.
- The Court held the Sixth Circuit used an incorrect standard by focusing on a limited set of work-related manual tasks.
- The proper inquiry is whether the impairment prevents or severely restricts the person from performing manual tasks that are of central importance to most people’s daily lives.
- Evidence that a plaintiff can perform personal hygiene and household chores is relevant to whether she is substantially limited in performing manual tasks.

## Legal Principles

- “Substantially limits” in the ADA’s definition of disability requires a considerable restriction, not an impairment that interferes only in a minor way.
- “Major life activities” are activities of central importance to most people’s daily lives; “performing manual tasks” cannot be confined to tasks associated with a particular job.
- The disability determination is individualized and fact-specific, considering the nature, severity, duration, and long-term impact of the impairment.
- An impairment’s impact generally must be permanent or long-term to qualify.
- A medical diagnosis (including carpal tunnel syndrome) does not by itself establish an ADA disability; functional effects on major life activities must be shown.

## Conclusion

The Court held that ADA disability based on limits in “performing manual tasks” requires proof of significant, lasting restrictions on everyday manual activities, not merely an inability to perform a subset of job-specific tasks, and it remanded for application of that standard.


Toyota Motor Mfg., Ky., Inc. v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184 (2002)