Blind Dartmouth student suing school

Parents Forum
41

The movie I saw about the student whose mother accompanied her was a quadraplegic, and they would have needed 3+ full time aids to do what the mother was doing. Mothers can work 24 hours a day, paid aids cannot. It seemed this was the arrangement the student and family wanted.

I do not believe the school needs to hire aids, signers, or guides, but must accommodate them if they are hired by the student. The school needs to provide an area for a service dog to be walked, but doesn’t have to provide a person to walk the dog. That’s one of the hot issues with young children bringing service animals to grade schools. The schools don’t want to provide aids to walk the dog(s) at noon or allow them on the playground without the student they assist.

42

I read the book, didn’t see the movie. As I remember there were younger kids at home but the mom stayed in the Harvard dorm. I did indeed think Harvard should have provided whatever was needed for the student to attend independently, or the admission was just for show. But I can see your point. That was just my reaction at the time. nd I would add that Harvard is very accommodating and supportive of students with disabilities in general.