You apparently read a different article than I. The one I read showed an operation which bent over backward trying to get this employee up to speed and never could so it cut its losses. The nutcase was not too nutty not to find a lawyer to harass the company.
What I gathered from the article was that she was able to meet essential job functions when given reasonable accomodation (the practice time, scheduled during non-peak hours, etc). I don't see a company bending over backwards - I see a company making an effort (i.e. the first two managers), then came the new manager, and suddenly she couldn't cut it.
I work in HR - I've investigated a ton of claims like this. 99 times out of 100, the employee could not meet essential job functions even with accomodation. I have red flags going up on this one. If an employee can perform with accomodation for two years, then suddenly they can't with a new manager ... well, that usually tells me that Mr. Manager was being unreasonable.
I wish I could've investigated this claim. Would've been an interesting one.