Mental Disability Laws

[Page 610]There are various mental conditions and disorders (e.g., dementia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression) that can result in disability. Although severity and permanency of the condition are important, they are not the only factors that must be considered. For example, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission advises that the symptoms that an individual may experience in the absence of medication and therapy are to be taken into consideration. Excluded from its definition of disability are conditions such as pedophilia, kleptomania, voyeurism, transvestism, and illegal drug use. This is done to guard against vagueness and to prevent abuse of the statute’s purpose.

Like other disabled individuals, those with mental disabilities have rights, which include but are not limited to the right to be treated with dignity and respect; ...