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So in the hypothetical library situation with the handicapped person and the non-handicapped person, our larger theory should tell us two important things:

Suppose that one of our principles of justice is that each person has a right to the treatment required in order to create a community of a certain kind. If that community requires that everyone participate in a certain way, then the handicapped person should be given something different from the stairway in order that she participate in that community in that way.

The rule that we should treat equal cases equally doesn't tell us much until we have some other principles to work with.