I think people are misinterpreting and assuming that I am defending the policy, which I'm not. That being said, anyone getting that impression, well, that's entirely on me for striking the tone that I did.
I'm not pretending that RTO is about collaboration. You have people told to report to offices in Atlanta and Dallas so they can manage their nationwide and worldwide teams over zoom... definitionally, not in-person collaboration. Many have said it on these forums, and I largely agree... collaboration was an excuse repeated to help leadership provide a fig leaf of justification.
What I am saying is that your commute is not legally actionable in terms of ADA accommodations. It simply isn't. The ADA can force the company to make allowances and compromises for you in the office, but it doesn't give you a legal justification to WFH, even if you medically can't drive. Essentially, it boils down to take an uber, or a cab. The company CAN opt to grant an accommodation when they aren't legally forced to, but spoiler, they're not going to during this RTO push. It would open them up to credible discrimination suits.
For those who are bringing up loathsomely lacking work environments within those buildings... those things are 100% legally actionable via an accommodation. If you have a back condition and require a certain kind of chair and desk arrangement, the company is going to be legally forced to provide it. Instead of people coming onto these forums and talking about what foods trigger gas attacks as a literally childish form of lashing out, do something productive... and seek accommodations that are supported by the ADA.
Standing desks. Custom chairs. Isolated workspaces. Ergonomic keyboards. Relocation within the office to ease mobility issues, and so on and so forth.
Those kinds of accommodations might actually shine a spotlight on some of the glaring issues. The company can still deny them, claiming an undue hardship on the business unit... but if their undue hardship is caused by deliberately forcing 200 people into an office that supports 100, they are going to have a tough time defending that in court.