Diabetes not disability: Looking for news item

[susan]

Hi folks,

I think it was this summer that I read a news story reporting that diabetes was not considered an ADA disability. The specific incident reported was about a diabetic woman who worked at a job that did not permit her to eat at her desk. She passed out at work and brought this case, which was unsuccesful.

I’ve had poor luck searching for this article. If anyone can provide a citation, link, or other source for it, I (and my students) would be grateful.

[johncole]

Is this the case?

source
Fraser began working for United States Bancorp in June 1998 as a senior account specialist. Her supervisor, Jeff Erwin, notified her in November 1998 that she couldn’t eat at her desk.
…
Bancorp asked the court to throw out the case without a trial, arguing that Fraser wasn’t disabled under the ADA. The court agreed with the bank and threw out the case.

Some other links of interest

source
“But suppose I did have a job-related problem because of my diabetes. Perhaps I couldn’t eat meals when I needed to. I wouldn’t want to sue under the ADA. Even if I won my case, I’d be labeled a ‘complainer’.”

source
The confusion over who is and who is not covered by the law is evident in competing lower court rulings. In some cases, lower courts have ruled that people with diabetes, breast cancer and some mental illnesses are not covered under the ADA.

source
A federal appellate court in St. Louis has ruled diabetes did not constitute a substantial limitation in a major lifeactivity preventing a pharmacist at Wal-Mart from performing his duties without an accommodation. Thepharmacist closed the pharmacy department at a Wal-Mart store for half an hour each day so he could eathis lunch at a certain time and check his blood sugar. He was told that he could not close the departmentand had to be available to customers. He refused to keep the department open and was fired