Today’s Star Tribune has another disability-related column. I’m beginning to wonder if the Strib is controlled by some shadowy gimp cabal. This column discusses a local Catholic high school that declined admission to a student with muscular dystrophy, only after initially accepting him. Apparently, the school decided they could not accommodate the kid’s accessibility needs. It’s been a while since I’ve looked at federal IDEA law and I can’t remember what obligations it places on private schools. But I have heard of other stories of private schools turning away students with disabilities. Often, they simply don’t have the facilities and the experience to accommodate students with disabilities. But how do you reconcile that with the ideal that a student should be able to attend the public or private school of their choice, regardless of disability? The school mentioned in this article was built in 1932 and might not even have an elevator. They probably don’t have a paraprofessional staff trained to assist the kid with daily needs like going to the bathroom. Was it reasonable for the parents to expect their child will be safe and comfortable in such an environment? Or should the school be required to bear all the necessary costs of accommodating him?
I’m just asking.
Cry foul, but don’t sit on your bum, state employed disability consultant
I’d guess that a distinction is made about “choice.” That is, public schools are more obligated to be as close to 100% accessible as possible. Anyone can go, and there’s the whole law about kids in school thing. But private schools, because it is a CHOICE to eschew public, accessible schools, theoretically don’t have the same obligation. Therefor, the private school can also choose whether or not to spend the money to make themselves accessible, just like they can choose whom to admit, and find whatever loopholes there are in the ADA guidlines. Yes, of course the parents should reasonably expect their child to be safe (I don’t know about comfortable, we’ve all heard the nightmare stories about boarding schools in England!) at school. But they expect safety at public school too, and their taxes pay for it there, including metal detectors… Not so much privately owned places. Just like any facility built or renovated after a certain year, right? I called a restaurant the other day to ask if they were wheelchair accessible. The guy said, “sorta.” There are wheelchair accessible bathrooms, but there’s no ramp to get in the building, lots of stairs. The restaurant is 125 years old, so they didn’t have to spend the money on a ramp…like I said, loopholes.