Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law in 1990. This law extends civil rights protection to persons with disabilities in private sector employment, all public services, and in public accommodations, transportation and telecommunications. A person with a disability is defined as someone with a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits him or her in a major life activity, such as walking, talking, working, or self-care. A person with a disability may also be someone with a past record of such impairment, for example, someone who no longer has heart disease but is discriminated against because of that history.

The ADA states that employers with fifteen or more employees may not refuse to hire or promote a person because of a disability if that person is qualified to perform the job. Also, the employer must make reasonable accommodations that will allow a person with a disability to perform essential functions of the job.

All new vehicles purchased by public transit authorities must be accessible to people with disabilities. All rail stations must be made accessible, and at least one car per train in existing rail systems must be made accessible.

It is illegal for public accommodations to exclude or refuse persons with disabilities. Public accommodations are businesses and services such as restaurants, hotels, grocery stores and parks. All new buildings must be made accessible, and existing facilities must remove barriers if the removal can be accomplished without much difficulty or expense.

The ADA also stipulates that companies offering telephone service to the general public must offer relay services to individuals who use telecommunications devices for the deaf, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week

The word “impairment” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to_________.