# ADA leads to death of UC Berkeley free online courses **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 13, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118 "2017-03-13T21:44:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/81 "2017-03-16T23:57:18Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Strange. Do I similarly have to hold the cone for a person with no arms, or am I discriminating against them too for not having ice cream cone neck harnesses? No. Lay the cone at his feet. The rest is his to figure out. he probably can hold it with his feet. You seriously can’t see the difference in inconvenience to you in walking a couple of feet, and bending down to hand a cone to a guy in a wheelchair, and standing there for ten minutes holding the cone for a guy with no arms? If you can’t see the difference, I don’t think I have anything else left to offer you. Now, assuming you can see the difference, and you are just being difficult, the debate remains: which is more like the UCB situation, walking a few steps, or standing there holding a cone? There are a lot of things to consider: the trouble and expense the university had to go to; how what already existed compared to what existed for hearing people-- was it, so to speak “separate but equal,” or decidedly unequal; and how reasonable was it to expect the Deaf users to provide something for themselves-- sometimes it is reasonable to expect people to provide their own adaptations, and sometimes it isn’t even possible. In this case, I’m not sure how it would be possible. ---
**Author:** ![cardinal\_fang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal_fang/32/15316_2.png) [@cardinal\_fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cardinal_fang)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/82 "2017-03-17T01:20:24Z")
As an aside, [LBRY](https://lbry.io/) has [copied the UCB videos](https://lbry.io/news/20000-illegal-college-lectures-rescued) and will make them available to the public in April. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/83 "2017-03-17T14:21:01Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Do you own a restaurant or grocery store where hamburgers and hot dogs are sold? I fail to see how that is relevant to my giving away hot dogs and hamburgers at a tailgate event. Do I, or don’t I, have to comply with health standards while giving away hot dogs and hamburgers at a tailgate event? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/84 "2017-03-17T14:27:57Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > You seriously can’t see the difference in inconvenience to you in walking a couple of feet, and bending down to hand a cone to a guy in a wheelchair, and standing there for ten minutes holding the cone for a guy with no arms? If you can’t see the difference, I don’t think I have anything else left to offer you Yes, I do in fact see the difference. However, it seems like some people here DON’T see the difference. > [@](#): > > Now, assuming you can see the difference, and you are just being difficult, the debate remains: which is more like the UCB situation, walking a few steps, or standing there holding a cone I say it is more like standing there holding a cone. Look, my point is there are a LOT of things that don’t provide accommodations for disabled people. I happen to think that giving away free stuff shouldn’t be held to the same standards as a business selling stuff. For instance, if Berkley was getting all new books for their library, and giving away the old books for free, would you expect them to offer ALL the books in Braille too? Or is that discrimination, since blind people wouldn’t be able to benefit from their free book giveaway? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/85 "2017-03-17T14:29:30Z")
> [@cardinal\_fang](#): > > As an aside, [LBRY](https://lbry.io/) has [copied the UCB videos](https://lbry.io/news/20000-illegal-college-lectures-rescued) and will make them available to the public in April. Why can’t this organization also be sued to provide closed captioning for the videos? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/86 "2017-03-17T16:49:12Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Why can’t this organization also be sued to provide closed captioning for the videos? I think there might be different standards for government entities like Berkeley. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/87 "2017-03-17T16:59:27Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I fail to see how that is relevant to my giving away hot dogs and hamburgers at a tailgate event. Do I, or don’t I, have to comply with health standards while giving away hot dogs and hamburgers at a tailgate event? Yes, you do. Now, the health department isn’t likely to come by, but the police may break it up if it’s a big enough event that hasn’t been sanctioned. Just because no one really cares that you share a couple hotdogs with other’s tailgating doesn’t mean that there are not standards that you are supposed to hold to. My question to you, if you are giving it away for free, does that mean that you feel you can serve food that is contaminated or otherwise unwholesome and unfit for human consumption? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/88 "2017-03-17T17:13:11Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > I think there might be different standards for government entities like Berkeley. Are MIT and Harvard government entities? They were both sued for the same issue. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/89 "2017-03-17T17:14:18Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > My question to you, if you are giving it away for free, does that mean that you feel you can serve food that is contaminated or otherwise unwholesome and unfit for human consumption? I wouldn’t knowingly do that, no. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/90 "2017-03-17T17:49:04Z")
Does [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) provide this in Braille or audio? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/91 "2017-03-25T07:23:05Z")
How is taking the resource away from everyone a “reasonable accommodation”? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/92 "2017-03-25T07:27:19Z")
Is this the end of the whole concept? Do the others, like MIT for example, have to pull theirs too? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/93 "2017-03-31T23:28:48Z")
> [@Debillw3](#): > > In what world is the line between “reasonable accommodation” and “unreasonable accommodation” determined by cost? In every world. The ADA does throw in the phrase “undue hardship” and then defines it partly by unreasonable cost. [Here’s your cite](https://adata.org/faq/what-considered-undue-hardship-reasonable-accommodation). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/94 "2017-04-01T04:51:57Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I fail to see how that is relevant to my giving away hot dogs and hamburgers at a tailgate event. Do I, or don’t I, have to comply with health standards while giving away hot dogs and hamburgers at a tailgate event? I’m going to assume that no, you don’t own a store or restaurant where you sell food items, and based on that, I don’t believe you are bound by governmental regulations like the ADA, though you can of course be sued or prosecuted if it turns out someone gets sick from the food you’re giving away. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118/95 "2017-04-01T05:47:26Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > So we agree that the problem is the California state budget (decided by Democrats), right? No most of the issues with revenue in California are directly related to ballot initiatives like Prop 13 that was pushed by Howard Jarvis. He was very much a member of the Republican Party. But most people would only know him as the business man left in the cab in Airplane! Him and Paul Gann and their inspired or legacy organizations are mostly responsible for the unsustainable regressive tax structure in the state of California. As an example. > **[Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association](https://www.hjta.org/)** > > Protecting Taxpayers' Rights What party runs the state of California is immaterial due to those ballot initiatives. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ada-leads-to-death-of-uc-berkeley-free-online-courses/782118.md?page=4)