When does a disability accommodation become a personal benefit?
A question that is currently winding its way through American courts
Authors note: Because of Medium’s refusal to address its accessibility issues for both authors and readers, I’ve moved my last three years of blogs to Substack. Please sign up there for notices of all new articles. Thank you for your continued readership and support.
It was one of the earlier plane trips I had taken independently in my personal wheelchair.
As I waited upfront for the pre-boarding with an airline notorious for not having assigned seats, a woman said *VERY LOUDLY* “I wonder what I have to do to get special treatment like THAT.” I didn’t turn around, but I suspect she was pointing at me.
It probably felt louder than it was. And I wish the witty reply “have 24 surgeries and break the bones in your feet by looking at them the wrong way” was right on the tip of my tongue, but it wasn’t.
I was horrified at being called out extremely publicly as someone seeking a personal benefit instead of what was really a disability accommodation.
That is why I emphasize so much with the plaintiff in Hopman v. Union Pacific R.R. This case, in the Eastern District of Arkansas, recently visited this exact…
