This section shall be construed liberally to the end that employers shall be encouraged to employ and retain in their employment handicapped employees as defined in this section.

(A) As used in this section, "handicapped employee" means an employee who is afflicted with or subject to any physical or mental impairment, or both, whether congenital or due to an injury or disease of such character that the impairment constitutes a handicap in obtaining employment or would constitute a handicap in obtaining reemployment if the employee should become unemployed and whose handicap is due to any of the following diseases or conditions:

(1) Epilepsy;
(2) Diabetes;
(3) Cardiac disease;
(4) Arthritis;
(5) Amputated foot, leg, arm, or hand;
(6) Loss of sight of one or both eyes or a partial loss of uncorrected vision of more than seventy-five per cent bilaterally;
(7) Residual disability from poliomyelitis;
(8) Cerebral palsy;
(9) Multiple sclerosis;
(10) Parkinson's disease;
(11) Cerebral vascular accident;
(12) Tuberculosis;
(13) Silicosis;
(14) Psycho-neurotic disability following treatment in a recognized medical or mental institution;
(15) Hemophilia;
(16) Chronic osteomyelitis;
(17) Ankylosis of joints;
(18) Hyper insulinism;
(19) Muscular dystrophies;
(20) Arterio-sclerosis;
(21) Thrombo-phlebitis;
(22) Varicose veins;
(23) Cardiovascular, pulmonary, or respiratory diseases of a fire fighter or police officer employed by a municipal corporation or township as a regular member of a lawfully constituted police department or fire department;
(24) Coal miners' pneumoconiosis, commonly referred to as "black lung disease";
(25) Disability with respect to which an individual has completed a rehabilitation program conducted pursuant to sections 4121.61 to 4121.69 of the Revised Code.