# Law: racism as a disability?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-racism-as-a-disability/743418>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 17, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-racism-as-a-disability/743418 "2016-01-17T17:53:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-racism-as-a-disability/743418/1 "2016-01-17T17:53:14Z")

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Has anyone ever tried to argue that their pathological fear of black people is a psychiatric condition, and demanded accommodation from employers, restaurants, etc.?

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**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-racism-as-a-disability/743418/2 "2016-01-17T22:13:19Z")

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It’s been proposed by Dr. [Poissant](http://www.neulaw.org/blog/1034-class-blog/483-racism-a-mental-disorder). Ultimately, the APA decided against classifying racism as a mental disorder because its prevalence in American society renders it normative, and such a classification would likely lead racists to use that as a justification and dissuade them from adapting their mindsets.

Frustratingly, my observation has been that the best/only cure for racism is contact with the “other” (if not immersion). That’s not exactly something a racist is likely to enthusiastic about…

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**Author:** ![jerry\_smissingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@jerry\_smissingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerry_smissingfinger)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-racism-as-a-disability/743418/3 "2016-01-17T23:47:46Z")

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> [@WF\_Tomba](#):
>
> Has anyone ever tried to argue that their pathological fear of black people is a psychiatric condition, and demanded accommodation from employers, restaurants, etc.?

I think most of us have fears, it’s just human nature not a legal issue.

Fear of black people would be something that person needs to learn how to cope with especially if they live in an area that is predominately black, African American or whatever race label you want to use.

Sounds like more of a prejudice due to fear , not racism as racism is defined.

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**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-racism-as-a-disability/743418/4 "2016-01-18T21:40:28Z")

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Also remember disability doesn’t trump everything else. The law requires balance and reason, though sometimes the reason seem “off” to everyone but the judge )

For instance, safety will trump any reason for discrimination as long as it truly is a reason for safety. For instance, wearing a religious item that may get caught in machinery, even if required by your religion.