<p>You are not required to disclose any disability on any application to any college: that would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act big time. </p>
<p>Again, as others have said, this is a recipe for an eating disorder and other psychological damage and I think urgent action needs to be taken. Talking with a lawyer can make the parent informed when talking with the college and next step would be actually using the lawyer.</p>
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<p>However, the medical forms required for enrollment do require such disclosure. And lying or hiding something is grounds for dismissal, especially if it is something the school must spend money to deal with, if the student get’s hurt and the college should have known, or if the student is found not to be able to handle the college environment because of a particular condition.</p>
<p>Being slender is not a disability. </p>
<p>Can you cite any case in which a student has been dismissed from a college for improperly filling out medical forms?</p>
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<p>Since the medical records have not been evaluated by an outside physician, it is still an assumption it is only appearance. </p>
<p>The sports team issue is also something to put into mix, if there are weight limits for certain positions. But this sounds a bit than just the sports team. </p>
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<p>Given it is a medial condition, very few will know about it for privacy reasons, unless the schools sued or you were there. </p>
<p>Anecdotally, I know of two when I was in school in the 80s: one person did not disclose he was bipolar and had several events at school that were very disruptive. He was gone. And one person did not disclose that he was being treated for alcoholism and was always drunk on campus, and he was gone. These two were one and two years ahead of me.</p>
<p>Those are two I know personally. I was not friends with them, but witnessed the events and situations. The school was very quiet, but the deans were upfront in saying that they were on indefinite medical leave, never to return. </p>
<p>Contrast this with another student in my class who was also bipolar, who did disclose to the school that he was, and the school worked with him (and the students did too) to make sure he took his meds etc. He graduated fine and became very famous and tops in his field.</p>
<p>I am sure it happens more than people know. It is not the responsibility of any school to baby sit students. Having a disability is not the issue. The issue is even with a disability, a certain level of independence and ability to perform collegiate duties are part of the deal. If the disability stops a student from being able to perform as required, then those are grounds to dismiss.</p>
<p>The 1980’s were before the Americans with Disabilities Act. Regarding my post about “disability”, I apologize because it was not related to the matter at hand was intended for anyone reading this thread who might get the idea that they have to disclose health or psychiatric conditions or learning issues or whatever in their application to schools.
Being slender would not be in that category at all 
In fact, that is the point of this whole thread: the school is treating being slender as a condition.</p>
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<p>I don’t think the Supreme Court ruling which established the ADA was passed until I was in high school in the early-mid '90s. </p>
<p>Hence, the situations you observed isn’t likely to be legal after the ADA was passed.</p>
<p>^^ Well that’s a muddled statement. The ADA is an ACT of congress, not something established by the Supreme Court. The Act requires certain businesses (and would include colleges) to make certain accommodations if they are necessary to let a person with a disability participate in a ‘life activity’ such as college. It does not require a college to just allow the person to have an exception because of a disability. In this case, the accommodation might be to allow the student to eat 6 meals rather than 3, to have food in her room if that wasn’t normally allowed, to allow her to weigh in at 10 am even if everyone else had to weigh in at 6 am. Accommodations, not exceptions.</p>
<p>^ ^</p>
<p>I recalled the ADA act being challenged in court many times and the law being mostly upheld until the last several years when some provisions were weakened by a much more conservative Supreme Court. </p>
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<p>I disagree. </p>
<p>The medical forms that my DSs filled out last year and this year asked such questions, quite openly. If you lie or do not disclose, it can be reason to for dismissal. One signs the form, as truthful.</p>
<p>What the ADA says is the school cannot discriminate against you for a known condition, if you can perform as expected. It does not say you can lie about your condition and then the school cannot hold you responsible for submitting false information AND the school must keep you even if you cannot perform as expected, </p>
<p>In the case of my company, if you lie to us about your health upon hiring, and a situation arises, we can fire you. On top of that, if you do not disclose a condition that one knows may impact fulfilling work requirements, we can fire you then as well, if such a situation occurs, but you did not disclose the possibility ahead of time.</p>
<p>In summary, the ADA stops discrimination, but does not give the green light to lie and the person in question must still be able to perform as required with minimal non-invasive accommodations.</p>
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<p>Wrong. It was not weakened. It was affirmed, as to what was meant by the law. It was liberal nonsense that was stopped. People wanted to expand it to make companies do things that made no sense. </p>
<p>For example, asking businesses to install wheel chair ramps in places where no wheel chair could even be allowed because of the danger to the work environment and to other employees. That is just plain stupid. Every floor does not mean every floor - only an idiot thinks that. It means every floor on which a wheel chair can function safely.</p>
<p>Asking community pools, regardless of size, to install wheel chair access in pools where there were no wheel chair-bound members in the entire town. Just as stupid., especially when the ramp installation cost is 120% of the annual operating budget of the entire pool operation. Some people tried to get pools shut down in entire communities because of that. Silly - for a ramp the town budget could not even support. Brilliant - stop swimming for all kids for no one. </p>
<p>Having braille signs in labs and buildings that no blind person is allowed to enter because of the danger of knocking over explosive chemicals or breaking a vile of a dangerous virus. Yeah right - spending $15K on signs that would never be used in an entire building.</p>
<p>These are but three examples. There are tons more.</p>
<p>There is no way I intended a detour like this on this thread. I just wanted to make sure future applicants/parents didn’t get the wrong idea that disabilities/conditions need to be disclosed on applications,from one poster. The ADA was passed in 1990 so experiences before that are not relevant.</p>
<p>None of this applies to the problems of the original poster and daughter, which seem fairly urgent to me, so I hope we can get back to it.</p>
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<p>Please note that there was no disclosure of medical conditions on applications prior to the ACA either. The disclosure was on the medical form after acceptance, same as today. Nothing has changed in that regard. Therefore, experiences prior to ACA are still very relevant. </p>
<p>The point is the information must be disclosed truthfully before registration and stepping foot on campus, and one should not lie or hide a condition or lose risk a charge of perjury on the medical form.</p>
<p>This is definitely an OK detour because it does provide information re what medical information colleges expect and what they monitor, as important. </p>
<p>Correction to Post #111:</p>
<p>I meant to type ADA in my post, not ACA. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>We’ve had at least one prior conversation like this. I think it’s worth repeating, as somebody suggested upthread, that it is likely that in the vast majority of such cases, there actually is an eating disorder, and intervention may be life-saving. If this is the case, then the problem is not with the overall policy, but with whether it can respond adequately to the outlier case of a person who is naturally very thin who does not have a disorder. In cases in the past, getting the kids’ doctors at home involved has sometimes led to a satisfactory solution.</p>
<p>Last Sunday I decided to unplug and take a 24 hour hiatus from the internet – that day turned into many and I had an interesting week away from the virtual world. But I wanted to update this thread for all the helpful CCers who gave me advice and feedback.</p>
<p>I had a long phone conversation with D last Saturday and learned that the weight monitoring was no longer related to the sport at all (if indeed that ever had been the central concern) and was simply a result of college policy mandating a BMI standard. I asked D to release her records which she agreed to (‘of course mom’), and I grilled her about her health, menses, eating habits, everything I could think of. I am convinced she is the same healthy kid who left home less than a month ago. She is simply the unfortunate/misguided target of an undoubtedly well intentioned policy by the college to intervene with girls who are suffering from eating disorders. D doesn’t happen to be one of those girls. I got her permission to contact the Health Center and she gave me contact info for the NP managing her case, who also happens to be the director the Health Center! I talked to D about how we should proceed individually and together, and we agreed on goals and strategies.</p>
<p>I emailed the director and asked her for a copy of the policy mandating BMI and any other policies/protocols she was relying on to “treat” D. I asked to schedule a phone date. I bcc’ed D3 on the email; she was relieved that I was in her corner as I have rarely (maybe never) done anything like this for her before, and I think she is feeling in over her head with how to advocate for herself. (D sent me a text at some point this week calling me a ‘fierce mommy’ which I think is a compliment – also she hasn’t called me "mommy’ since she was 10 years old so I think she is appreciating the support!))</p>
<p>The Director replied agreeing to talk after she cleared it with D (which she did later that day) and attached a document called “X College Guidelines for the Management of Eating Disorders and Nutritional Concerns. Approved 3/19/2010. Revised 9/23/2014”. So the document was revised the day she sent it to me!!! 
I can’t second guess which part of the document was changed before she sent it to me, but the basic point is that the policy it outlines ( and yes there are very specific BMI ranges mandated) is directed to students who have EDs or weight related health concerns, neither of which D has. We made a phone date (and then another when the first didn’t happen) but the director has not called me yet - each time she doesn’t call she sends an email apologizing for being very busy and forgetting to call. I have been very tempted to send her my concerns in writing in the meantime, but I think it best to see if perhaps one phone call might redirect this whole thing. </p>
<p>D texted me after her Health Services visit on Thursday assuming that I had talked to the NP/director bc she said there was already a distinct difference in the attitude and requirements. Whereas previously she was told she absolutely had to reach 108 pounds by December, at the most recent visit, they had tempered the demands and seemed OK as long as she wasn’t losing weight. Also a nutritionist got involved and she said the rapid weight gain they were requiring was unhealthy. Hooray for nutritionists. Maybe they also reviewed their own protocols and realized their mistake? I really won’t know until I actually talk to the NP, but D seems relieved and now believes that she might be freed from the bogus program. I have a backup plan, but hope it can be resolved without any real dispute. </p>
<p>The problem is, as some have said in this thread, that D is at the low end of weight standards, and therefore is an exception to a college policy/standard that may be appropriate in (most?) other applications. My concern continues to be that they are judging these girls ( there was a well publicized example at Yale, article linked upstream) by BMI which is acknowledged to be a useless indicator of health, rather than by behavior or genuine health problems which should be the guidelines for diagnosing a condition requiring medical treatment. </p>
<p>Thanks again for all the thoughtful input last week. This is when I’m grateful for the internet. </p>
<p>Seriously, unless the student’s has had a demonstrated medical condition or behaviors which clearly indicate self-harm, this is serious form of helicoptering by the college admins. </p>
<p>Good for you, @nynightowl. I hope that if the director flakes out on the next phone call, that you do put everything in writing (documented, with dates, and including the fact that apparently the policy had been revised on the date it was sent to you) and send it to her. Possibly cc-ing the office of the president for this college. That is total BS, what they are doing, and I think they know it.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the update. </p>
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<p>I suggest you never let them forget this and dutifully repeat this every time you talk to someone. It is so important not let them forget that scientifically low does not mean abnormal AND low does not automatically mean unhealthy.</p>
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<p>This I would not recommend.</p>
<p>If the issue is being handled satisfactorily, no need to expand the number of people involved. Give the director credit in being responsive to you, at least by email. I do think, however, the Director not talking to you yet is a sign that they are unsure of their own initial decision re your daughter actually has a problem. </p>
<p>And that fact they have not sent a specific set of line items and results from your daughter’s medical records to indicate a clearly identifiable problem based on medical data other than BMI says that there are not any. This seems to be a BMI-only issue.</p>
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<p>That is beyond a compliment. </p>
<p>She sees you in her corner and as someone who backs her, not just someone who is obligatory and being a parent. You cannot buy such a text; you have to earn it big time. She was “shaken and shrunken” a bit by this (maybe a lot}, and your support gave her her “confidence and height” back and then some.</p>
<p>Realize too that there is rainbow here. Just imagine the model you just gave her in knowing when and how to back up her kids. Cannot buy that either. </p>
<p>If you can, you could also quietly and subtly use this opportunity to continue conversation and further forge a closer relationship with her. It might be a crappy situation to be in, but you also have a great opportunity to make a big win out of it as well.</p>
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<p>To be fair to the school, medical tests can and often are predictive of either impending medical conditions, which are not yet symptomatic, and thus are not demonstrated medical conditions. </p>
<p>Additionally, there are normal behaviors, which people do that unbeknown to them are harmful to themselves because of a previously unknown issue. These behaviors would never be viewed as abnormal or of causing a medical condition, unless juxtaposed against a particular test result. Therefore, it is very possible to do self-harm out of ignorance.</p>
<p>However, in this case, none of these situations existed. But this does not mean the school was helicoptering in an inappropriate way. This situation really only indicates that the school took decisions without all available information, with in the most important missing information being what was normalcy for the D.</p>
<p>Are you sure the policy was changed on the date it was sent to you? I’ve worked on systems where the date of the document is listed as the ‘revision’ date, but all that means is that it was current as of that date, and all changes, even to formating or adobe versions, etc., were included in that document.</p>