[NFB-Talk] Equality vs undue burden

[Jack Heim]

In this month's Braille Monitor, there is an article by George Stern 
about striving for equality. Not to criticize the article at all, it is 
really good as far as it goes. I have a little problem in that there is 
an obvious answer to one of the main points George brings up. I see 
people struggling with this same issue all the time in all kinds of ways.


In the article, George mentions a friend who says equality for blind 
people is an impossibility. The example George gives is his friend 
saying, "A wheelchair user and an able-bodied person apply for the same 
roofing job. Which one do you expect the contractor to hire?"


What George and his friend are doing here, without even realizing it, is 
struggling with the concept of an undue burden. Of course a roofing 
company is going to hire the able-bodied person because (presumably) 
hiring the person in the wheel chair would be an undue burden. If, on 
the other hand, the person in the wheel chair could do the job with some 
kind of lif system so that it would not be an undue burden to hire him, 
then the roofing company should treat the applicants equally.


I am not expressing a legal argument here although I believe this 
concept is actually legally binding in some circumstances. This is an 
ethical point I am making. I see people debating the ethics of 
disability rights all the time. They do this dance around the concept of 
an undue burden without seeming to recognize it.


Ethically, as a disabled person, you have a right to be treated like 
everybody else unless it would place an undue burden on somebody else. 
The debate should never be on whether you have a right to an 
accommodation but rather on whether  you are asking for something that 
constitutes an undue burden. You want to bring your guide dog on an 
airplane? Does that place an undue burden on the airline? You want your 
text books in braille? Does that place an undue burden on the school?


If you just keep this concept in mind, most debates over disability 
rights can be resolved fairly easily.


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Jack Heim, john at johnheim.com