Muscular Dystrophy at Work: Your ADA Rights as Your Needs Change
How the ADA and FMLA protect workers and job applicants with muscular dystrophy, including coverage, mobility devices, accommodations such as schedule changes, equipment, and seating, new requests as symptoms progress, assumptions about future decline, leave, reassignment, retaliation, and deadlines.
Why Muscular Dystrophy Should Easily Qualify as a Disability
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to private employers with 15 or more employees for 20 or more weeks in the current or preceding calendar year and to state and local government employers; federal workers are covered through the Rehabilitation Act, and many state laws reach smaller employers. MedlinePlus describes muscular dystrophy as a group of more than 30 genetic diseases that cause muscle weakness that gets worse over time and can cause trouble walking and doing daily activities; some types also affect other organs, and even people with the same type can have different symptoms. Under 29 CFR 1630.2(j)(3)(ii)-(iii), muscular dystrophy is one of the impairments that should easily be concluded to substantially limit a major life activity, because it substantially limits neurological function, and the regulation says the individualized assessment for these impairments should be particularly simple and straightforward. That means the fight in most muscular dystrophy cases is not whether you are covered but whether your employer met its accommodation duties and treated you fairly.
Wheelchairs, Braces, and Other Mobility Devices Do Not Erase Coverage
MedlinePlus says there is no cure for muscular dystrophy and that treatment often combines physical and occupational therapy, respiratory care, speech therapy, medicines, surgery, and assistive devices such as wheelchairs, splints and braces, and walkers. Under 42 U.S.C. Section 12102(4)(E), whether an impairment substantially limits a major life activity is decided without regard to the helpful effects of mitigating measures, and the statute lists medication, equipment, mobility devices, oxygen therapy equipment, assistive technology, and learned behavioral or adaptive neurological modifications. So an employer cannot argue that you are not disabled because you manage well with a scooter, a brace, or a breathing device. Before a job offer, under Section 12112(d)(2), an employer may not ask whether you have a disability or about its nature or severity, though it may ask whether you can perform job-related functions.
Accommodations Workers With Muscular Dystrophy Often Request
Under 42 U.S.C. Section 12111(9), reasonable accommodation may include making existing facilities accessible and usable, job restructuring, part-time or modified work schedules, reassignment to a vacant position, and acquiring or modifying equipment or devices. The EEOC's reasonable accommodation guidance says a modified schedule may involve adjusting arrival or departure times, providing periodic breaks, or altering when certain functions are performed, and an employer must provide one when required as an accommodation, absent undue hardship, even if it does not offer such schedules to other employees. In an EEOC example, a cashier who became fatigued because of lupus asked for a stool, and the EEOC called that a common-sense, effective accommodation where the job can be done sitting down. An employer generally does not have to provide personal use items, such as a wheelchair, that you also need off the job, but items specifically designed or required to meet job-related needs may be required. If more than one accommodation would work, your preference should be given primary consideration, but the employer may choose among effective options, and an undue hardship means significant difficulty or expense.
When Your Needs Change, You Can Ask Again
Because muscular dystrophy usually progresses, an accommodation that worked last year may not work now. The EEOC says the duty to provide reasonable accommodation is an ongoing one: some people need one accommodation for a period of time and later need another type. An employer must consider each new request, and if an accommodation turns out to be ineffective and you still cannot perform an essential function, it must consider an alternative accommodation and, if none exists, attempt to reassign you to a vacant position for which you are qualified, unless that would cause an undue hardship. You do not need to use the words reasonable accommodation; telling a supervisor or HR that you need a change at work because of a medical condition is enough. If your need is not obvious, the employer may ask for documentation from an appropriate professional, and the EEOC lists physical therapists and occupational therapists among them alongside doctors. The EEOC also says employers should act promptly and that unnecessary delays can violate the ADA.
Assumptions About Future Decline
Some employers worry about what a progressive condition may do in the future. But if an employer claims you are unsafe, 29 CFR 1630.2(r) requires a direct threat determination based on an individualized assessment of your present ability to safely perform the essential functions of the job, using reasonable medical judgment that relies on the most current medical knowledge or the best available objective evidence, and considering the duration, severity, likelihood, and imminence of the potential harm. A direct threat is a significant risk of substantial harm that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation. So a safety-based decision must rest on your present ability, not on predictions that your condition will get worse someday.
Leave, Surgery, and FMLA
If you need time off for surgery, therapy, or recovery and have no paid leave left, the EEOC says unpaid leave may be a reasonable accommodation when no other effective accommodation exists and leave will not cause undue hardship. In an EEOC example, an employee whose disability was getting more severe asked for leave for surgery her doctor recommended, and the employer instead offered equipment to delay the need for surgery; the EEOC said that proposal was not effective because it interfered with her ability to get medical treatment. Under 29 CFR 825.115(c), a chronic condition that requires treatment visits at least twice a year, continues over an extended period, and may cause episodic rather than continuing incapacity can be a serious health condition under the FMLA, covering periods of incapacity or treatment for it. Under 29 CFR 825.110, an eligible employee has worked for the employer for at least 12 months, has at least 1,250 hours of service in the 12 months before leave starts, and works at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles.
Retaliation and Deadlines
Under 42 U.S.C. Section 12203, an employer may not retaliate against you for opposing disability discrimination or taking part in an ADA charge or investigation, or coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with you for exercising ADA rights. Keep a written record of each accommodation request, every response, and any discipline that follows. A charge with the EEOC generally must be filed within 180 calendar days of the discriminatory act, extended to 300 days where a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting the same kind of discrimination; federal employees generally must contact an agency EEO counselor within 45 days.
Primary Sources
- MedlinePlus: Muscular DystrophyAccessed September 27, 2026
- 29 CFR 1630.2: Definitions, Including Substantially Limits and Direct ThreatAccessed September 27, 2026
- U.S. Code: 42 U.S.C. Section 12102 Definition of DisabilityAccessed September 27, 2026
- U.S. Code: 42 U.S.C. Section 12111 Definitions, Including Reasonable AccommodationAccessed September 27, 2026
- U.S. Code: 42 U.S.C. Section 12112 Discrimination, Including Medical InquiriesAccessed September 27, 2026
- EEOC: Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the ADAAccessed September 27, 2026
- eCFR: 29 CFR 825.115 Continuing TreatmentAccessed September 27, 2026
- eCFR: 29 CFR 825.110 FMLA Eligible EmployeeAccessed September 27, 2026
- U.S. Code: 42 U.S.C. Section 12203 Prohibition Against Retaliation and InterferenceAccessed September 27, 2026
- EEOC: Time Limits for Filing a ChargeAccessed September 27, 2026
Think You Have a Case?
This article is general information, not legal advice. For a review of your situation, get a free consult with the YesLawyer team.
Get Your Free Consult