Panayi Vs. Six Flags: A Case Study

Introduction

Often times when people hear the word ‘discrimination’ they tend to think of discrimination against race, sex or religion. But there is also another group of people that often get discriminated against, people with disabilities. In order to make the United States a more inclusive nation, President Bush signed the American Disability Act into law on July of 1990. According to the United States Department of Justice, “The American Disability Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, State and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications. It also applies to the United States Congress.” This is the general law that that protects people with a disability or anybody that has a relationship or association with an individual with a disability. Families, from California, filed a lawsuit against Walt Disney

Six Flags. When Panayi visited Six Flags in July 2013, they informed him he was no longer allowed on thirteen of the rides due to the fact that he had lost one of his legs. Six Flags implemented a new policy, in 201, after a man whom had lost both legs fell off of one of their roller coasters and died. After being denied access to thirteen rides Panayi sued Six Flags for failure to accommodate his disability as required by the ADA and the Texas Human Resources Code. This case, unlike Disney’s, was settled by both Panayia and Six Flags and dismissed. Six Flags also found themselves in the middle of serval other lawsuits due to their policy change. And in at least one of those lawsuit, the court sided with the plantiff and found Six Flags guilty of violating the ADA laws. The Court found that Six Flags failed to provide evidence establishing why the new requirements were necessary and that a more individualized assessment of the safety risks to each rider is necessary to comply with federal and state