ABSTRACT
In early 1998, federal district courts issued decisions in two highly publicized cases alleging discrimination on the basis of disability. In one, the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) was ordered to allow Casey Martin, a talented contender with a serious leg impairment, to use a golf cart in its championship tournaments, in contravention of its existing rules. In the other, Boston University (BU) was permitted to maintain its foreign language requirement without exceptions for learning-disabled students after a court-mandated faculty committee determined that the requirement was "fundamental to the nature of a liberal arts degree" at that university. The drafters of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) expected the meaning of "reasonable modification" to be fleshed out in the courts, and the two rulings were made in the context of the distinct bodies of case law governing organized sports and higher education.
