FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SETTLES GLUTEN-INTOLERANT STUDENTS’ CLAIMS AGAINST UNIVERSITY FOR DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), it is illegal discrimination for a place of public
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SETTLES GLUTEN-INTOLERANT STUDENTS’ CLAIMS AGAINST UNIVERSITY FOR DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), it is illegal discrimination for a place of public accommodation (including a university) to fail to make reasonable accommodations for the disabilities of its patrons (or students). The same is true under the Maine Human Rights Act and other states’ disability rights laws. Some types of reasonable accommodations are quite obvious; for example, restaurants must provide wheelchair access and handicapped restrooms. A recent settlement between the Lesley University in Massachusetts and the United States government shows that the accommodations requirement of disabilities laws may also extend to food menu offerings.
In 2009, students from Lesley University in Massachusetts filed a charge of discrimination under the ADA, alleging that the university failed to make reasonable accommodations, with respect to meal plans and menu choices, to students with a disability in the form of a food allergy – gluten intolerance. Gluten is a common food allergy which can manifest into celiac disease in some people. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder “that damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food that are important for staying healthy. The damage is due to a reaction to eating gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats.” See Celiac Disease Definition, U.S. Nat’l Library of Medicine, Nat’l Inst. of Health, A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia (Jan. 20, 2010), available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001280. Symptoms of celiac disease vary greatly and can include anything from abdominal pain to seizures. The condition can also lead to malnutrition. Other types of food allergies, such as a peanut allergy, can cause dangerous, even life-threatening reactions like asthma or anaphylaxis. Some food allergies occur suddenly and require immediate medical treatment. Because of the seriousness of reactions to gluten and other food allergies, people who suffer from these conditions have to focus on avoiding the foods on a daily basis. The university’s mandatory meal plan, they argued, did not allow them to do so. The students claimed that the university violated the ADA by failing to accommodate their disability with sufficient gluten-free meal choices.
A threshold issue in this charge was whether an allergy to food, such as gluten, qualifies as a “disability” for purpose of the ADA. When the ADA was amended, effective January 1, 2009, the definition of disability was revised to specifically include an “impairment that is episodic or in remission … if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active.” 42 U.S.C. §12102(4)(D). Because having a food allergy can cause intermittent, serious reactions, limiting breathing, eating, digestion, and perhaps other major life activities, the condition might now be a disability requiring accommodations. In addition, many state laws provide greater protections than the ADA, including broader definitions of disability. For example, unlike its federal counterpart, the Maine Human Rights Act, contains a per se list of conditions that are automatically disabilities for purposes of qualifying for reasonable accommodations under the Act. 5 M.R.S.A. §4553-A(1)(B). Neither food allergies nor celiac disease are included in Maine’s per se list, but would fall within the Act’s reach to the extent the conditions impair major life activities.
The Lesley University students claimed that, because the university food service and meal plan did not offer safe and nutritious meals for students with celiac disease and other types of