5th Circuit: Accommodate disability limitations, not disabilities

While the following case deals with a university and a student, its lesson applies equally to an employee and an employer.

Disability: ADHD

ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and nursing student Jennifer Molosso has it. After being dismissed from the nursing program at the University of Louisiana at Monroe for poor academic performance, she sued for a failure-to-accommodate her disability. Her reasoning went like this:

• I have a disability.

• I told you about my disability, so it is open and obvious.

• You failed to provide a reasonable accommodation to my disability so I could succeed in school.

• I win.

Missing link

Here’s Molosso’s problem: She never told the university of the limitations flowing from her disability. In short, she didn’t explain what she cannot do or has difficulty doing because of the ADHD. Moreover, a mental disability’s limitations—by their very nature—aren’t open and obvious as with a person in a wheelchair or with one arm. Here’s the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals’ (whose rulings apply to all Texas employers) take in dismissing the claim:

Academic struggles can occur for any of reasons not stemming from a disability, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not require “clairvoyance” that an individual with a disability suffers from a limitation.