I’m no Luddite, but for years I’ve had strong negative reactions to CRT monitors and mild negative reactions to cell phones (right up against my ear for more than a few minutes) and fluorescent lighting. I deal with it, but the problem is very real for me.

Working at a CRT monitor for a few hours will cause my eyes to ache and eventually give me a headache, followed by my eye muscles twitching. This isn’t uncommon. I was surprised to learn just how many people have a negative reaction to CRT monitors. So I use an LCD monitor. Problem solved.

With my cell phone, I always use it with the speakerphone and keep it a few inches away from my ear. Problem solved. I adapt and move on, but my point is that the problem is real for me and a few others I’ve talked to.

I’m not looking for special treatment like this group you wrote about, but at the same time, no one likes to hear that something that’s troubling them is all in their head, or “unsubstantiated” as you phrased it. I hope you’ll consider that the next time you’re writing/talking to mixed company.

We run into the same misuse of the ADA when misinformed building inspectors or architects try to apply it to pool safety gates. To make a long story short pool gates are exempt from the ADA. For more information check out my blog, blog.fencemax.com .