From time to time, I ruminate about the relationship between common sense and the ADA. It might be when cogitating about whether showing up for work is an essential function of a job. Or when pondering whether a bridge worker with agoraphobia is a qualified individual with a disability. In framing arguments on such issues, I search for the right words to express the relationship between common sense and the ADA.
My search may have ended. In a case rejecting an ADA claim brought by an employee terminated after his optometrist wrote that his eyesight had deteriorated to that point “that he may pose a hazard to himself or fellow workers if working in an area that uses dangerous tools,” and after the company proceeded “cautiously and carefully” before concluding that plaintiff was unfit to work, the court said "the ADA was never intended as a stumbling block to the exercise of common sense,…" Kemp v. Volvo Group North America (W.D. Va., Jan 24, 2013). Common sense prevailed! And I assure you I will cite that phrase often.