Disability-Related Misconduct

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects persons with disabilities from discrimination at the hands of employers, educational institutions, public accommodations, and state and federal facilities. One feature that renders the ADA unique among anti-discrimination measures is that, in addition to proscribing adverse actions on the basis of a person's membership in the protected class, the statute requires covered parties to provide reasonable accommodations for disabled individuals under certain circumstances. Since its enactment in 1990, the statute has posed a number of interpretive challenges for those seeking to comply with its mandates, including what it means to be “disabled,” and the extent to which a particular accommodation is “reasonable” under the circumstances. One question that many courts have grappled with is whether and to what extent accommodations must be made for a disabled person who engages in misconduct as a result of his or her disability. This article examines the divergent approaches that courts have taken in their resolution of that issue.