Leader and unique abilities question

Applies to the character itself if they meet yhe criteria to be effected.

Yes. Counts themselves and applies to themselves. Which is why you see lots of people run a QGJ lead with no other Jedi. I'm not a fan of this, but it's purposeful.

Yes leader abilities work on the characters no matter if the leader is dead.

Seriously? Did you get 204 posts within a single day of playing the game or did you just never pay attention?
Honest answer: yes, leader ability gets initiated at the beginning of the battle and remains active throughout.
To the OP: it counts all characters including self as long as the phrasing doesn't include the word "other".

Leader abilities do work, with exception. If Lumi or Bariss leads die their start-of-turn heal stops working. Maybe a bug, maybe intentional.