Last year the University of Colorado suspended student Brittany Bethel and placed her on the university’s persona non grata list of individuals banned from campus. What did the star swimmer do to warrant such disciplinary action? Bethel suffers from anorexia and according to the university, violated the school’s honor code of “by being a danger to myself.”
Now another teen has been suspended from her New Hampshire private school on similar grounds. Debra Franchi filed a lawsuit against the New Hampton School on behalf of her 15-year-old daughter, who is not named, alleging violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. For the purposes of this post, let’s call the girl Jane. Jane suffers from anorexia and is currently in treatment for it — she had recently spent several weeks in inpatient and outpatient treatment. According to the suit, Jane’s parents advised the school of her daughter’s condition upon enrollment and they reassured Jane’s parents that the school had adequate counseling services available and understood her condition. Jane also saw a nutritionist and therapist and was weighed often. Her mother and her attorneys say that at 5-foot-7 and 114.5 pounds, Jane was thin, for sure, but represented no danger to herself.
The Concord Monitor reports:
The lawsuit raises legal questions about eating disorders, which have gained increased visibility in recent years, and whether those disorders are covered under current federal anti-discrimination laws, attorneys said yesterday. Congress has passed a revised, broadened version of the ADA that explicitly includes eating disorders, among other additions, but that doesn’t go into effect until Jan. 1.
The suit charges the school on a dozen counts, ranging from violation of the ADA and federal Rehabilitation Act to Title IX and negligence. The school’s motion to dismiss, which [Andrew] Serell (attorney representing the school) filed last week, rebuts a number of those counts, including the ADA claim, because the school isn’t a “public entity” and eating disorders don’t constitute “disabilities” under the ADA.
A private school that receives some federal funding is a public entity under the Rehabilitation Act, not the ADA, said Jeanne Kincaid, a Portsmouth attorney who represents schools and universities and deals solely in disability cases. Still, a private school would be considered a “public accommodation,” she said, which means it does qualify under the ADA.
According to Kincaid, the girl’s case must meet three criteria to fall under the ADA: Whether she had an impairment, whether that impairment affected a “major life activity” and whether the impact was substantial. Anyone who has suffered from an eating disorder or cared for someone who has knows that all three deserve a big check-plus, but Kincaid thinks it will be difficult for the plaintiffs to prove the latter. The school’s motion to dismiss argues that the ADA doesn’t define an eating disorder as a disability, because it doesn’t “substantially limit” major life activities.
Unless a client is extremely disabled, Kincaid said, “it’s hard to prove you’re qualified. The more I make it negative, the more I pile on about how ill you are, the more the other side argues, ‘Well, you’re not otherwise qualified to be here.’ It’s a delicate avenue.”
The lawsuit arises more from the fact that Jane’s mother paid some $49,000 in tuition for her daughter’s freshman year and the school refused to prorate a refund, even though they suspended Jane mid-year. Her attorneys say that she is doing well in her recovery.
I can certainly understand if the school felt as if they did not have the resources or personnel to treat Jane’s disorder. The school is, after all, a boarding school and assumes the majority of responsibility for ensuring the daily well being of its students and anorexia is a serious mental illness that often requires intense treatment. Still, the appropriate response is not to exercise disciplinary action and expel a student who is already psychologically unstable and who is in active recovery to treat a medical condition! At the pinnacle of my eating disorder, I was carrying a 15-18-credit hour course load. School was my saving grace – if I didn’t have the structure and support of my studies to rely upon and motivate me just to get up each day, I might be just another eating disorder suicide statistic. In fact, it was my education and the accompanying encouragement to self-examine both the world and myself that factored greatly into my own recovery.
Would the school expel a student undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer or lymphoma? Are New Hampton students suffering from depression or who are obese up for expulsion, also? Eating disorders are a certifiable mental illness and in some anorexia cases, represent a disease of the brain. It’s time that they receive the same respect that any other medical condition would receive.
Cross-posted on www.the-f-word.org
Last year the University of Colorado suspended student Brittany Bethel and placed her on the university’s persona non grata list of individuals banned from campus. What did the star swimmer do to warrant such disciplinary action? Bethel suffers from anorexia and according to the university, violated the school’s honor code of “by being a danger to myself.”
Now another teen has been suspended from her New Hampshire private school on similar grounds. Debra Franchi filed a lawsuit against the New Hampton School on behalf of her 15-year-old daughter, who is not named, alleging violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. For the purposes of this post, let’s call the girl Jane. Jane suffers from anorexia and is currently in treatment for it — she had recently spent several weeks in inpatient and outpatient treatment. According to the suit, Jane’s parents advised the school of her daughter’s condition upon enrollment and they reassured Jane’s parents that the school had adequate counseling services available and understood her condition. Jane also saw a nutritionist and therapist and was weighed often. Her mother and her attorneys say that at 5-foot-7 and 114.5 pounds, Jane was thin, for sure, but represented no danger to herself.
The Concord Monitor reports:
According to Kincaid, the girl’s case must meet three criteria to fall under the ADA: Whether she had an impairment, whether that impairment affected a “major life activity” and whether the impact was substantial. Anyone who has suffered from an eating disorder or cared for someone who has knows that all three deserve a big check-plus, but Kincaid thinks it will be difficult for the plaintiffs to prove the latter. The school’s motion to dismiss argues that the ADA doesn’t define an eating disorder as a disability, because it doesn’t “substantially limit” major life activities.
The lawsuit arises more from the fact that Jane’s mother paid some $49,000 in tuition for her daughter’s freshman year and the school refused to prorate a refund, even though they suspended Jane mid-year. Her attorneys say that she is doing well in her recovery.
I can certainly understand if the school felt as if they did not have the resources or personnel to treat Jane’s disorder. The school is, after all, a boarding school and assumes the majority of responsibility for ensuring the daily well being of its students and anorexia is a serious mental illness that often requires intense treatment. Still, the appropriate response is not to exercise disciplinary action and expel a student who is already psychologically unstable and who is in active recovery to treat a medical condition! At the pinnacle of my eating disorder, I was carrying a 15-18-credit hour course load. School was my saving grace – if I didn’t have the structure and support of my studies to rely upon and motivate me just to get up each day, I might be just another eating disorder suicide statistic. In fact, it was my education and the accompanying encouragement to self-examine both the world and myself that factored greatly into my own recovery.
Would the school expel a student undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer or lymphoma? Are New Hampton students suffering from depression or who are obese up for expulsion, also? Eating disorders are a certifiable mental illness and in some anorexia cases, represent a disease of the brain. It’s time that they receive the same respect that any other medical condition would receive.
Cross-posted on www.the-f-word.org