Section 1: Dealing With Disabilities Services
The college office of Disabilities Services is the first place to contact once you are accepted. You might not think having a food allergy is a disability. But it is - and it if you have one, your rights are protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act. The ADA is enforced in schools by the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. The ADA even applies to private colleges because most receive some public funds. You can contact the Office of Civil Rights before you contact the college, or while you are in the process of having your request reviewed by a college.
The Office of Civil Rights is staffed with regional offices of attorneys who can pull up previous cases that can help you get a college to grant your request. The most famous is the Lesley University case which led to requiring schools to waive mandatory meal plans for students who cannot safely eat a variety of foods in the school dining halls. But there are also cases the require housing and other accommodations. For instance, there was a college that tried to charge a student extra for his/her room accommodation. That was ruled illegal. Call the Hotline at: 1-800-421-3481 to be directed to a person in the Office of Civil Rights who can answer your questions. The OCR also has documents online that describe how they help students with disabilities, but because the law was intentionally written so broadly, you may need to refer to specific cases.
Here is the general language under 34 C.F.R. Section 104.43 (of the Americans with Disabilities Act) which states the following:
No qualified handicapped student shall, on the basis of handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any academic, research, occupational training, housing, health insurance, counseling, financial aid, physical education, athletics, recreation, transportation, other extracurricular, or other postsecondary education aid, benefits, or services to which this subpart applies.
The college office of Disabilities Services will probably require you to fill out their own paperwork and to have your doctor fill out some, too. Your doctor may indicate - among other things- that you need a room with a kitchen, to live in a single, to opt out of a meal plan, to have meal accommodations made for you, that you need a car on campus to go to doctors appointments or get supplemental food, or that you need air conditioning for your asthma. What ever accommodation you want - make sure your doctor indicates that on the form.
While you can and should call the Office of Civil Rights for help, all requests to the office of Disabilities Services should be made in writing, which can include emails and faxes of forms. If you have a phone conversation, follow it up with an email acknowledging the date and time of the call and what was discussed.Tell your story in each email so that if the case needs to be escalated the emails will speak for themselves.
Once you have filled out the paperwork, the school has a reasonable amount of time to respond. About 2 months after we had submitted the forms and made a request for accommodations, we still had not received an answer from the college. Our guidance counselor recommended requesting a response early in the academic year in case Lily would have to choose another school. Lily was accepted via rolling admissions at the end of September her senior year, but still hadn't heard from the school regarding accommodations by the end of November. Here is what the letter said (feel free to use it in your own correspondences with Disability Services).
Dear (Director Disabilities Services),
As you might imagine we are eagerly awaiting your decision as to whether (our daughter) meets the criteria to receive medical accommodation from (your university) for the 2014 academic year, when she would be a freshman.
As (Student's) doctors have indicated in the submitted forms, (Student) has anaphylaxis reactions to physical contact, and in some case airborne exposure to (student’s multiple food allergies). She does not eat school cafeteria food or restaurant food. She eats only food she or I prepare. She will need to continue preparing her own food at college by living in housing with a kitchen. We are requesting that (Student) be placed in apartment style university housing where she would have a kitchen such as (_____ Hall) or one of the other university owned apartment buildings.
In an email dated October 10, 2013 (Student) asked if you would notify us by November 15, 2013 if she met the criteria. In an email dated the same day, you indicated you received the paperwork from the doctors and would decide "in the next few weeks". While November 15 might seem like an arbitrary date, we need time to plan any necessary next steps to be sure (Student) has a safe college experience without suffering any hardships that would prevent her from having adequate time for her studies (if she didn't have a kitchen and couldn't easily and quickly prepare food) and proximity to her classes (if she had to live off campus).
Best regards,
Student's Mother
The Office of Civil Rights is staffed with regional offices of attorneys who can pull up previous cases that can help you get a college to grant your request. The most famous is the Lesley University case which led to requiring schools to waive mandatory meal plans for students who cannot safely eat a variety of foods in the school dining halls. But there are also cases the require housing and other accommodations. For instance, there was a college that tried to charge a student extra for his/her room accommodation. That was ruled illegal. Call the Hotline at: 1-800-421-3481 to be directed to a person in the Office of Civil Rights who can answer your questions. The OCR also has documents online that describe how they help students with disabilities, but because the law was intentionally written so broadly, you may need to refer to specific cases.
Here is the general language under 34 C.F.R. Section 104.43 (of the Americans with Disabilities Act) which states the following:
No qualified handicapped student shall, on the basis of handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any academic, research, occupational training, housing, health insurance, counseling, financial aid, physical education, athletics, recreation, transportation, other extracurricular, or other postsecondary education aid, benefits, or services to which this subpart applies.
The college office of Disabilities Services will probably require you to fill out their own paperwork and to have your doctor fill out some, too. Your doctor may indicate - among other things- that you need a room with a kitchen, to live in a single, to opt out of a meal plan, to have meal accommodations made for you, that you need a car on campus to go to doctors appointments or get supplemental food, or that you need air conditioning for your asthma. What ever accommodation you want - make sure your doctor indicates that on the form.
While you can and should call the Office of Civil Rights for help, all requests to the office of Disabilities Services should be made in writing, which can include emails and faxes of forms. If you have a phone conversation, follow it up with an email acknowledging the date and time of the call and what was discussed.Tell your story in each email so that if the case needs to be escalated the emails will speak for themselves.
Once you have filled out the paperwork, the school has a reasonable amount of time to respond. About 2 months after we had submitted the forms and made a request for accommodations, we still had not received an answer from the college. Our guidance counselor recommended requesting a response early in the academic year in case Lily would have to choose another school. Lily was accepted via rolling admissions at the end of September her senior year, but still hadn't heard from the school regarding accommodations by the end of November. Here is what the letter said (feel free to use it in your own correspondences with Disability Services).
Dear (Director Disabilities Services),
As you might imagine we are eagerly awaiting your decision as to whether (our daughter) meets the criteria to receive medical accommodation from (your university) for the 2014 academic year, when she would be a freshman.
As (Student's) doctors have indicated in the submitted forms, (Student) has anaphylaxis reactions to physical contact, and in some case airborne exposure to (student’s multiple food allergies). She does not eat school cafeteria food or restaurant food. She eats only food she or I prepare. She will need to continue preparing her own food at college by living in housing with a kitchen. We are requesting that (Student) be placed in apartment style university housing where she would have a kitchen such as (_____ Hall) or one of the other university owned apartment buildings.
In an email dated October 10, 2013 (Student) asked if you would notify us by November 15, 2013 if she met the criteria. In an email dated the same day, you indicated you received the paperwork from the doctors and would decide "in the next few weeks". While November 15 might seem like an arbitrary date, we need time to plan any necessary next steps to be sure (Student) has a safe college experience without suffering any hardships that would prevent her from having adequate time for her studies (if she didn't have a kitchen and couldn't easily and quickly prepare food) and proximity to her classes (if she had to live off campus).
Best regards,
Student's Mother
Most likely, once your accommodation is granted, you will be put in touch with other departments of the university such as dining services, student life, residence life and student health. Depending on the school, one department might take the lead in dealing with the student and his or her request.
Remember your request extends to any time you will be staying on campus. If you are going be staying over for an orientation or registration or accepted students weekend, you will need an accommodation, too. If one dining hall handles all of the food allergy needs but that dining hall isn't open during orientation - that is a problem.
If your accommodation isn't granted, be sure to get the rejection in writing and then contact the OCR immediately!
Here are some sample forms to give you an idea of what you will need to fill out for your accommodation. Allow ample time for filling them out because most schools require your doctor to fill out a few sections too. To find your school specific forms, google your school name and disability services and it should direct you to their disability website.
Remember your request extends to any time you will be staying on campus. If you are going be staying over for an orientation or registration or accepted students weekend, you will need an accommodation, too. If one dining hall handles all of the food allergy needs but that dining hall isn't open during orientation - that is a problem.
If your accommodation isn't granted, be sure to get the rejection in writing and then contact the OCR immediately!
Here are some sample forms to give you an idea of what you will need to fill out for your accommodation. Allow ample time for filling them out because most schools require your doctor to fill out a few sections too. To find your school specific forms, google your school name and disability services and it should direct you to their disability website.
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