When twenty-seven-year-old natasha frechette learned that she had multiple sclerosis, she wondered whether she would not only need someone to take care of her but whether she would be able to keep her data manager job at the small research firm where she worked. after all, the disease with which frechette was diagnosed could lead to numbness, blindness, and eventual paralysis. not to mention she would need to take time off for physical and occupational therapy. in a related story, joel boswell could no longer work as a mechanic at united airlines after he was treated for a brain tumor. the u. s. equal employment opportunity commission (eeoc) alleged in its class-action lawsuit against the airline that rather than hiring boswell for other jobs for which he was qualified, united airlines placed him on involuntary leave until he retired. according to the eeoc attorney, "they [disabled workers] shouldn’t have to compete with everybody else. if they can do these jobs, they should try to work out an accommodation with the disabled worker."