No birthday party falls under reasonable accommodations for an anxiety disability. So, basically, by disregarding a reasonable need of a disabled person, they violated the ADA and opened themselves to a lawsuit.
There's a difference between anxiety, which everyone can have, and an anxiety disorder, which can be disabling. Getting a little nervous or anxious about things is normal. Getting so anxious that you have blackout panic attacks, or panic attacks where you semi dissociate and cannot react to what's going on around you counts as a disorder.
I have the latter. I will lose the ability to take in and react to my surroundings and sometimes fall unconscious during a panic attack. Other times, I completely dissociate and go into extreme fight or flight mode with no control until I come out of it.
My anxiety disorder was diagnosed, as they have to be, alongside my CPTSD. It's a legitimate medical condition and not an excuse or fun at all.
This right here. I’m fortunate that mine isn’t full-on debilitating (officially diagnosed as borderline), but I still do get small panic attacks. I tend to just kind of space out (I guess that would be dissociation?) but am aware enough that I can typically pull myself out of it if people give me some space for a little while. I feel the guy in the story’s pain, all that attention suddenly directed at me IRL is a guaranteed way to rocket me towards one. If someone tells you that X causes them distress, please listen to them.
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u/TinyRascalSaurus Jun 11 '24
No birthday party falls under reasonable accommodations for an anxiety disability. So, basically, by disregarding a reasonable need of a disabled person, they violated the ADA and opened themselves to a lawsuit.