[Medusa]

Pinkgeek - I like what you said about self-moderating.

I think in the case of children, I have a much wider berth for making allowances or rules for access. Children do not have a choice as often as adults and are not able to self-care in the same way.
I do think that there has been an increase (thankfully) in access to public education, etc. due to the ADA and can appreciate the little boy or girl who has HIV who is able to attend public school rather than stay home due to other people's fears. Still, I wonder at what point someone else's medical issues become all of our problems.

(grumbling something about how someone told me they were going to sue me right after starting this site because I wouldn't provide her with a "talk to type" software because of her carpal tunnel )

Are we going to get to the point where the little girl who is allergic to sunlight attends public school and, because of her sunlight allergy, 30 other students sit in a windowless, dim environment.
If I were the parent of the sunlight-allergy child, I might say that it's her right to attend school and that the dim lights and windowless environment weren't such a disruption that I thought it would be a "reasonable" accomodation.
If I were the parent of a child in the classrom who did NOT have a sunlight allergy, but because one child did, my child sat in a cavelike environment all day, I might demand that my child be moved to another classroom or ask why one child with an allergy is determining what kind of environment 30 other children have.

So what is reasonable?

If it is a life-threatening allergy, is it up to the person who has it to protect themselves or is it reasonable to ask other people to change their behaviors (within reason)?

I'll also fully admit that this article touched a nerve with me when mentioning the accessability increase in the public education system and made reference to special needs children being placed in "regular" classrooms. Perhaps that will be another thread (I have very strong opinions there)