Water, Water Everywhere, but Not a Straw to Drink: How the Americans with Disabilities Act Serves as a Limitation on Plastic Straw Bans

• Author: Isaac T. Caverly
• Position: J.D. Candidate, The University of Iowa College of Law, 2020; B.A., The Ohio State University, 2017
• Pages: 369-397

369

Water, Water Everywhere, but Not

a Straw to Drink: How the Americans

with Disabilities Act Serves as a

Limitation on Plastic Straw Bans

Isaac T. Caverly*

ABSTRACT: Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”)

to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to society. This

revolutionary piece of legislation implemented standards for which places of

public accommodation must conform their business practices to. As a result,

places of public accommodation are required to provide auxiliary aids to

individuals who request them. This Note will first examine the background

that has led to plastic straws being banned or removed from places of public

accommodation. This Note will then discuss the negative consequences that

banning plastic straws has on individuals with disabilities. These

consequences can lead to the de facto exclusion of individuals with disabilities

from public life, which is what the Americans with Disabilities Act sought to

prevent. To avoid exclusion, this Note argues that plastic straws are the only

type of straw that can serve as an auxiliary aid. Therefore, in order to comply

with the ADA places of public accommodation must provide plastic straws.

This ensures that individuals with disabilities can fully and equally enjoy

their beverages. Finally, this Note will examine the impact this classification

has on current actions being taken and propose simple steps to ensure that

companies and government actors do not subject themselves to litigation that

they can easily avoid.

I.INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 370

II.THE PATH TO PLASTIC STRAW BANS AND THE CONCERNS

THAT ACCOMPANY THEM ............................................................. 371

A.PLASTIC’S METEORIC ASCENSION TO A UBIQUITOUS ITEM

IN HUMAN LIFE ....................................................................... 371

*

J.D. Candidate, The University of Iowa College of Law, 2020; B.A., The Ohio State

University, 2017. I would like to thank Amy Adam and Beth Moritz for encouraging me in my

writing from a young age, my family for their unending love and support, and Charles Pults for

helping to make this piece the best it could be.

370 IOWA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 105:369

B.THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF PLASTIC ............................... 372

1.The Magnitude of Plastics in Nature ........................... 372

2.The Environmental Impact of Plastics on Animals

and Humans .................................................................. 373

C.THE MOVEMENT TO BAN PLASTIC STRAWS ............................... 374

1.The Video that Galvanized the World ......................... 374

2.The Number that Got People Thinking ...................... 375

3.Plastic Straws as the Gateway to Reducing Total

Plastic Consumption ..................................................... 376

D.ACTIONS TAKEN TO REMOVE PLASTIC STRAWS ......................... 376

1.Public Sector Action Against Plastic Straws ................. 377

2.Private Sector Action Against Plastic Straws ................ 379

E.THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ................................. 380

1.Background of the ADA and Applicable

Provisions ....................................................................... 380

2.Court Interpretations of ADA Provisions .................... 382

III. THE DISABILITY COMMUNITY AND THE DESIRE TO PROTECT

THE ENVIRONMENT ....................................................................... 383

A.OTHER TYPES OF STRAWS JUST DO NOT COMPARE .................... 384

1.Plastic Straws Provide Vital Benefits to Individuals

with Disabilities .............................................................. 384

2.Popular Alternatives Pose Serious Health Risks.......... 385

B.EVEN PARTIAL BAN ROLLOUTS HAVE PROVEN PROBLEMATIC .... 386

IV.PLASTIC STRAWS AND THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ... 387

A.BANNING PLASTIC STRAWS FALLS WITHIN THE MEANING OF

DISCRIMINATION UNDER THE ADA .......................................... 387

1.Turning to Case Law to Understand “Auxiliary

Aids and Services” ......................................................... 388

2.The Exemptions ............................................................ 390

3.Competing Regulations ................................................ 391

B.PLASTIC STRAWS FALL WITHIN THE PROTECTION OF THE

ADA ....................................................................................... 393

C.THE EFFECT OF PLASTIC STRAWS BEING AUXILIARY AIDS ON

PLASTIC STRAW BANS .............................................................. 394

V.CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 397

I. INTRODUCTION

What if you were told that a nine-year-old boy and a turtle could be the

reason you might be fined for providing someone with a plastic straw? Now

imagine, that you are an individual with a disability who requires these straws