Cite as: 526 U. S. 795 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
cial estoppel but holding that claimant who declared total disability in a benefits application failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether she was a qualified individual with a disability).
II
The Social Security Act and the ADA both help individuals with disabilities, but in different ways. The Social Security Act provides monetary benefits to every insured individual who "is under a disability." 42 U. S. C. § 423(a)(1). The Act defines "disability" as an
"inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any . . . physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months." § 423(d)(1)(A).
The individual's impairment, as we have said, supra, at 797, must be
"of such severity that [she] is not only unable to do [her] previous work but cannot, considering [her] age, education, and work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful work which exists in the national economy . . . ." § 423(d)(2)(A).
The ADA seeks to eliminate unwarranted discrimination against disabled individuals in order both to guarantee those individuals equal opportunity and to provide the Nation with the benefit of their consequently increased productivity. See, e. g., 42 U. S. C. §§ 12101(a)(8), (9). The ADA prohibits covered employers from discriminating "against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual." § 12112(a). The ADA defines a "qualified individual with a disability" as a disabled person "who . . . can perform the essential functions" of her job, including those who can do so only "with . . . reasonable accommodation." § 12111(8).
801
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