Cite as: 527 U. S. 471 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
relative to their age-sex group could not conduct "usual" activities: e. g., attending preschool, keeping house, or living independently. See National Center for Health Statistics, U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Vital and Health Statistics, Current Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, 1989, Series 10, pp. 7-8 (1990).
By contrast, nonfunctional approaches to defining disability produce significantly larger numbers. As noted above, the 1986 National Council on Disability report estimated that there were over 160 million disabled under the "health conditions approach." Toward Independence, supra, at 10; see also Mathematica Policy Research, supra, at 3 (arriving at similar estimate based on same Census Bureau data). Indeed, the number of people with vision impairments alone is 100 million. See National Advisory Eye Council, U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Vision Research—A National Plan: 1999-2003, p. 7 (1998) ("[M]ore than 100 million people need corrective lenses to see properly"). "It is estimated that more than 28 million Americans have impaired hearing." National Institutes of Health, National Strategic Research Plan: Hearing and Hearing Impairment v (1996). And there were approximately 50 million people with high blood pressure (hypertension). Tindall, Stalking a Silent Killer; Hypertension, Business & Health 37 (August 1998) ("Some 50 million Americans have high blood pressure").
Because it is included in the ADA's text, the finding that 43 million individuals are disabled gives content to the ADA's terms, specifically the term "disability." Had Congress intended to include all persons with corrected physical limitations among those covered by the Act, it undoubtedly would have cited a much higher number of disabled persons in the findings. That it did not is evidence that the ADA's coverage is restricted to only those whose impairments are not mitigated by corrective measures.
The dissents suggest that viewing individuals in their corrected state will exclude from the definition of "disab[led]"
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