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When Disability Isn't "Just Right": The Entrenchment Of The Medical Model Of Disability And The Goldilocks Dilemma, Brad Areheart

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, I analyze how federal courts' interpretations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have presented a Goldilocks dilemma for disabled individuals. In particular, I examine how a typical ADA plaintiff is found either not disabled enough to warrant the protections of the ADA or too disabled to be a qualified individual for the respective job. The result is that very few plaintiffs are disabled just right. Such a result is at odds with the original intent of the ADA.Concern over the ADA could hardly be more timely. In July of 2007, bipartisan legislation based on the National …