In the discussion about the ADA and handicapable pool access over at Bobbi's, El Capitan points out that the pool lifts will only be mandatory on new pools and existing pools could try to skate on grounds of "undue hardship".
Mr. B replies that the .gov has a different idea of what constitutes "undue hardship" than you or I. This has certainly been my experience. Anybody who will tell a farmer that they can't plant crops for fear of endangering some subspecies of beetle obviously has pretty skewed notions of undue hardship.
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What I like is the quiet revelation of the seriously tremendous slaughter of wild, and some protected, birds and bats by wind turbines.
Only wind turbines are government sponsored, so apparently not subject to concerns about wiping out the wild habitat. Not like we have to shut down coal plants because they might release enough mercury to irritate a mouse.
Grr.
As long as elective obesity is considered a disability, the ADA will be seen as *enabling* unhealthy behavior, and crippling America.
And after the pool lifts, what next? Mandatory ADA-enabler attendants? What about wheel-chair accommodating showers and toilets, within "easy access" of the pool?
Ah, well. With electricity prices intended to multiply to meet the President's plan, and fuel prices intended to make Solar stuff profitable, more folk will be turning that backyard pool into a skateboard arena and flower planter. Or will the ADA be used to prevent decommissioning a pool, as being intent to deprive someone of their rights to share in mainstream recreation?
I cannot wait to see regulations for wheel-chair and power-scooter enabled jungle gyms, swing sets, and slides mandated for every back yard, pool or not.
On the other hand, Billll's Idle Mind comes to mind. What if the lift were a hydraulic arm? That reached into the pool from a ways off, with a 10 foot arm? And a simple flow valve change could double use as a redneck bungie jump? Fling that, mister pool lift regulator!
Nah. Mistakes might happen.
In fact, the courts' interpretations of "undue hardship" for the ADA are different than the same term in many other Federal contexts. And its all over the board, the Supreme Court has failed to even make it consistent between the circuits. And what a Federal judge, who does not have to pay for his decisions, thinks is not "undue hardship" will astonish you.
"If it ain't broke, we'll fix it until it is."
- Federal government
The commenters over at Bobbi's make some valid points. There are some vultures that file dozens of lawsuits in hopes of scoring some settlement money over trivial ADA violations. We are required to do patently silly things like making fire stations wheelchair accessible.
OTOH, it's not an immediate slam-dunk to a courtroom when an ADA complaint is filed. To head to court instead of DOJ mediation means you either have poor representation, or told the other side to go screw themselves.
Heh. As long as I'm rubbing salt in your wounds, you are aware that the revised ADA standards dictate that there are accessible pathways to shooting ranges, right??
The Body Shop in L.A. was hit with an ADA suit because they didn't have wheelchair access to the stage for any 'differently abled' strippers.
I'm confused.... Why do they need all this help? I thought they where Handy-Capable....
Treat me like everyone else... except when .... and then......
Hmmm. Didn't know they had Fetish Night at the Body Shop...
Lergnom, I'd say if you can't twirl yourself around the brass pole with your head down and your ass in the air, you can't perform the essential functions of the job, and are therefore not a qualified individual under the ADA.
Of course, that is California, land of the 9th Circuit Court, where a nasty hangnail gives you 90% lifetime disability. Here in the 5th Circuit, you can be wheeled into court in an iron lung, and they'll rule that it's a minor transitory condition.
As such, it's hard for a plaintiff to win an ADA lawsuit here. That's why I'm not feeling Wookier-Than-Thou over the revised ADA regs.
I'd be a lot more sympathetic to complaints about the ADA if it weren't for what I hear from people who need these accomodations: although the ADA mandates lots and lots of things, non-compliance or half-assed compliance is pretty common. Think about how many buildings you go into every day that have stairs up to the door and no ramp, or no elevator inside, or halls that would be awkwardly narrow to drive a wheelchair down. Or they do have a door without steps, but it's around the back off of the alley. There are certainly a lot where I live.
Minty everyone has challenges in life why are some more important than others.
I was given the crap end of the stick in life, and now I need everyone around me to pay for it. Because if I'm miserable then everyone needs to be too.
If a business wants to attracted the widest base of costomers possible, they will find away to make it happen.
Why the fcuk is it that everyone thinks it is everyone else job to make their life easer.
Minty,
1) How long have you spent in a wheelchair?
2) What gives people in wheelchairs the right to tell other people what to do with their property?
personally, i look forward to Olympic handicapped water polo.
El Capitan,
"As such, it's hard for a plaintiff to win an ADA lawsuit here. That's why I'm not feeling Wookier-Than-Thou over the revised ADA regs."
The ADA needs to be repealed. Period point blank. It is none of the federal government's beeswax.
I'm waiting for the day when they mandate wheelchair lanes on all local roads.
They are vehicles, are they not?
"The ADA needs to be repealed. Period point blank. It is none of the federal government's beeswax."
By that token, so is every other bit of civil rights legislation.
At what level of government is it OK to say "Y'all quit treating the disabled like 2nd class citizens!"
State? County? City? I'm trying to understand if this is a Federal overreach gripe, or a desire to rid the streets of those unsightly wheelchairs...
At no level of government is it okay to tell a citizen that they MUST:
Put braille on their menus.
Put changing tables in their bathrooms.
Disallow smoking on the premises.
Outside of keeping the heathen Chinee navy away from our shores, arbitrating disputes, and apprehending malefactors, there really is very little that is within the government's purview, and that includes painting blue lines around parking spaces.
I am well qualified for a handicapped tag. I don't have one for two reasons:
1) There are people who need to park close to the store worse than me.
2) I don't think telling people how to lay out their parking lots is any proper function of government.
If we give special treatment to someone over that of another, are those that don't get the special treatment second class citizens? The only way to not have a line to cross, or the need to deturmn who special and who's not, is to not draw one in the first place.
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