Drug abuse (including alcohol) is not covered under the ADA regs, so that's not even an issue. However a few obese persons have tried to get under the ADA umbrella but have not been successful. Yeah, I read that about SouthWest Airlines, charging for two seats if a passenger, er, "overflows" into the next one. I think it's ridulous how tiny the seats are, and how narrow the aisles are on a plane. When I flew to Philadelphia and back last month, the stewardesses had trouble wheeling the narrow airline chair down the aisle because it kept getting caught on seats, belts, etc. It was rather funny, actually. I've read that car manufacturers as well as furniture manufacturers are having to redesign seating to accomodate the heavier American butt. Seems to me the airlines need to keep pace. Kat On Thu, 27 Jun 2002 11:53:19 EDT "BG Greer, PhD" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Kat and Kyle, Self induced disability, if you can lump all those differing conditions into such a category, is a big gray area IMHO of the ADA. If you read the law's definition of disability, it is pretty inclusive. They are some conditions, such as obesity, which have a physical basis as well as an idiopathic one. As far as smoking and alcohol and drug addiction, I am very conservative. I have known case where individuals have intentional smoked pot in order to get busted and sent to treatment in order to get college tuition paid by vocational rehabilitation. I realize the voc. rehab, regs are not the ADA, but this illustrates the potential for misuse of the ADA. If you are speaking of the new Southwest Airlines regs, the fault lies with the airline(all of them) for making the seat so damn narrow in the first place. They try to pack you in to make more bucks! When Joyce and me rode Amtrak to New Orleans, I was amazed at the spacious comfort of the seating. Airlines could do that, but it would cost more and they would have to utilize double the current number of planes. As you can see, I did not go to TX. Too long a drive for me. And, too much $, we are going in the hole sitting here on a fixed income trying to sell this house in the middle of a bear market. Bobby