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Pregnancy As "Disability" And The Amended Americans With Disabilities Act, Jeannette Cox

Jeannette Cox

The recent expansion of the ADA’s protected class invites reexamination of the assumption that pregnant workers may not use the ADA to obtain workplace accommodations. The ADA’s scope now includes persons with minor temporary physical limitations comparable to pregnancy’s physical effects. Accordingly, the primary remaining justification for concluding that pregnant workers may not obtain ADA accommodations is that pregnancy is a physically healthy condition rather than a physiological defect.

Drawing on the social model of disability, this article challenges the assumption that medical diagnosis of “defect” must be a prerequisite to disability accommodation eligibility. The social model defines “disability” not …

"Corrective" Surgery And The Americans With Disabilities Act, Jeannette Cox

Jeannette Cox

This article challenges the assumption that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires persons with disabilities to undergo “corrective” surgery as a precondition to membership in the ADA’s protected class. This issue is ripe for discussion because current efforts to amend the ADA, although not focused on the “corrective” surgery issue, will unsettle the current doctrine underpinning many courts’ conclusions that an individual’s decision to forgo available medical technology bars her from relief under the ADA. The article aims to make two contributions. First, it argues that the ADA’s focus on reshaping cultural responses to disability suggests that individuals need …