Timmons on Reasonable Accommodation

New on Westlaw: Kelly Cahill Timmons, Limiting "Limitations": The Scope of the Duty of Reasonable Accommodation Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 57 S.C. L. Rev. 313 (2005). The abstract:

The two most controversial components of the Americans with Disabilities Act are the definition of disability, generally meaning a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, and the duty of reasonable accommodation, which requires employers to reasonably accommodate "the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability." This Article addresses an issue at the intersection of those statutory provisions: What limitations must an employer accommodate? This issue, which has divided courts, has received little scholarly attention, despite its important ramifications on the ability of disabled individuals to obtain reasonable accommodation. Limiting the limitations an employer must accommodate risks the entrenchment of many unnecessary disability-related barriers to equal employment opportunity. On the other hand, requiring employers to accommodate any limitation flowing from an employee's disability - even when the limitation is minor and is shared by other, non-disabled employees - could grant the disabled employee preferential treatment rather than a level playing field.