[nagdu] Allergy ruling could lead to ban on pets inairplanecabin

Mon Nov 16 18:10:12 UTC 2009

Steve,

Good points!  When I think of someone like my ex, who does have severe
allergies but who is unwilling to take extra precautions to protect himself,
instead expecting other people to adjust for that unwillingness on his part,
I feel very grumpy at the thought of having to limit my freedoms on that
basis.

I've also known and worked with people with allergies just as severe or
moreso, who do their part to manage them diligently and are courteously
respectful in asking others to adjust as needed.  There were several at my
last job, so the rule was no perfume or perfumed lotions at work!  And other
such adjustments.  I sat next to one of these women, and was happy to be
super careful on that score and to be sure to shake the cat dander out of my
coat before I came to work and all that.  She didn't expect or demand it,
simply talked easily about what would be a problem for her.

I went along with the no perfume rule without really thinking about it,
since I didn't wear perfume anyway because of my then-husband's allergies.
But after the first time a coworker was hauled off in an ambulance in
anaphylactic shock because someone walked by wearing perfume, I started to
take it more seriously.

So I guess the definition of disability on the allergy score would be, as
you pointed out, dependent on severity and effect on daily activities?  I
hadn't thought of it that way, but now it makes perfect sense.  D'oh! /grin/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Steve Johnson
Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 4:34 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Allergy ruling could lead to ban on pets
inairplanecabin

I am not writing this for the sake of argument, but would like to shed a 
little more verbage into this conversation, as we are talking about Canada 
here in this particular article, but need to understand how allergenic 
conditions are viewed here in the U.S....read on.

Allergies can be considered a disabling condition here in the United States 
if the definition of disability is met.  Remember that there are many types 
of allergies, including food, molds, pollens, latex etc.  There are those 
who have such significant reactions to these that they go into anaphalactic 
shock, can cause significant adverse reactions and push someone's asthma to 
where it becomes life-threatening etc.  There are a multitude of conditions 
that may seem to be "nothing" to the on-looker, but unless we truly 
understand how these conditions truly impact the daily lives of individuals,

we should not assume that it does not negatively impact their daily lives. 
Remember, there are even individuals in our own world whose sight is good by

day, but not by night, and you can bet that they are looked at being 
non-disabled while a the same time we know the truth.  Basically, I am just 
asking everyone to rethink how we view others and just to keep an open mind.

I work with persons with disabilities everyday in my profession, and it is 
not my place to interpret whether their condition is legit or not, but 
rather to understand how it impacts their daily activities.  Remember the 
definition of disability as stated in the ADA, and if Canada adopts such a 
definition, this would be a non-issue.  However, we are talking airlines 
here in this particular case, so the paralell would be the air-carrier act 
here in the U.S.

You might be interested in looking at more information on this particular 
subject at the JAN site pasted below as there are many titles addressing 
allergies:

http://www.jan.wvu.edu/pubsandres/list.htm

We don't know if these individuals are traveling for work, for leisure or 
whatever, but we do know that the United States does fit such individuals 
into a protected class if they meet the broader definition.

Thanks for listening,

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lisa" <lison1273 at live.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 9:56 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Allergy ruling could lead to ban on pets 
inairplanecabin

>I have to totally agree with you.  I mean come
> on...alergies...disability...what next???
>
>
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