New ADA Settlement Affecting Food Allergies & Colleges Requirements

<p>From the wiki site.

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<p>Also.
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[Employee</a> wins $100K over allergy to co-worker’s perfume Safety News Alert](<a href=“http://www.safetynewsalert.com/employee-wins-100k-over-allergy-to-co-workers-perfume/]Employee”>http://www.safetynewsalert.com/employee-wins-100k-over-allergy-to-co-workers-perfume/)</p>

<p>I can read. I just don’t think a food allergy raises to the level of a disability.</p>

<p>To venture a little off topic–what the heck is going on with humans? From my pre-school days through my graduate school days, I never encountered one person with a food allergy of any type whatsoever. I first became aware of peanut allergies about 25 years ago when S was in preschool; the first person I heard of with with gluten intolerance was a classmate of my daughter 10 years ago. I’ve heard the theories of why asthma has mushroomed in recent generations, but haven’t sen this question addressed. Is anyone aware of any research that’s been done to figure our why everyone and their dog seems to have food allergies these days?</p>

<p>A person who cannot eat ANYTHING requires medical care and alimentation that is outside the purview of a school cafeteria-- like an ng tube. </p>

<p>I think this could be way less onerous than it sounds. A personalized meal plan could be as simple as making sure that there is something the student can eat. Just as an example… I know a residential college where a student has a life-threatening allergy. The school provides all students online menus. This student has been assured that one of the school’s cafeterias will always be ‘safe.’ The student is responsible to go online, check the menus and see in what cafeteria the student can eat. There have been one or two exceptions (including when the school included the food on menus throughout campus) and the student was provided with a bag lunch or a credit to a non-dining room campus eatery. That’s a personalized meal plan in the sense that the school has made sure that there is something for the student to eat at all times. As far as some of the other stuff (educating kitchen staff, labeling foods), I think some of that already happens and is a good idea.</p>

<p>Re: #23</p>

<p>Perhaps in past generations, people with severe reactions died, while those with milder problems went undiagnosed or lived with them.</p>

<p>Sorry, but I don’t recall one person that ever died of eating a peanut or god forbid, being on a plane with one years ago… Okay, it may be that an occasional person has some allergy, but then don’t fly. If you are lactoce intolerant, dont have milk. I am not even sure what gluten free means, but I am pretty sure we didn’t have that 30 years ago. Seriously…eat a healthy diet and quit saying you need some ADA help to help you in your dieatary needs! If a certain food doesn’t suit you, don’t eat it! Really, you want to be designated disabled for your inablility to eat a certain food? Don’t eat it.</p>

<p>I have a child with food allergies.He is allergic to shellfish (which he has managed to avoid) and peanuts. Peanuts are in a lot of foods that you would never imagine. Never. It is not a simple matter of not eating Reeses. A few weeks ago, S had an accidental exposure to peanut in a food he tried at lunch (someone had brought it in and it supposedly did not have peanuts). Spent the evening giving him benedryl (with the epi pen) handy and monitoring his reaction.</p>

<p>I didn’t know anyone with peanut allergy growing up either (although I had a sibling who very nearly died as an infant due to milk allergy). I didn’t know anyone who was ADHD, autistic or learning disabled, either. But all of those conditions exist as do severe food allergies. </p>

<p>My child has food allergies. If yours does not you should be thankful.</p>

<p>GA2012 your response to this thread is ignorant and rude. Please educate yourself.</p>

<p>Proudpatriot, food allergy affects my dd’s ability to: go in buildings that <em>might</em> have open bins of nuts, to eat at restaurants, (can you imagine never having done so? She hasn’t) and even to attend school because of the threat of imminent death. There are few other disabilities I can think of, no deafness, no loss of limb, that are immediately fatal if dismissed as unimportant by those who hold the reins. It has affected every aspect of my dd’s life including her ability to get an education. When she goes away to college, I would love for her to be able to cook safely for herself. But many colleges require the purchase of a food plan at hundreds if not thousands of dollars, and forbid the cooking of food in dorm rooms. With multiple lethal allergies, how is she to survive? Or is that simply not important, and her possible contribution to society given a big “meh?” </p>

<p>@barrons, It seems completely reasonable to me that a student purchasing a food plan be provided with one specifically designed not to kill them. I don’t believe it means no student at the university is provided with that particular food – <em>obviously</em> that would be absurd given the number of different food allergens.</p>

<p>Clearly, GA, because you never heard of it, it never happened.</p>

<p>Do you know EVERY ingredient for EVERY food you eat? For many, they not only need to know ingredients but where the food was made. Even food that was made in the same factory as with nuts can be lethal. Educate yourself.</p>

<p>I just want to mention that celiac disease is not an allergy. It is an autoimmune disorder. And those with celiac really cannot have even the most minute amount of gluten: the problem is not “dose dependent.” Exposure to gluten is, for them, destructive for the GI tract and also increases risk of cancer. I am surprised that the writer of this article lumps celiac in with allergies. Many of those who are avoiding gluten these days do not have celiac, but have a “sensitivity.” Celiac disease is most reliably diagnosed by endoscopy/biopsy though blood tests are also used, for screening. [Celiac</a> Disease & Gluten-free Diet Information at Celiac.com](<a href=“http://www.celiac.com/]Celiac”>http://www.celiac.com/)</p>

<p>As for some of the comments on here, it might be useful for you to pick a food and imagine for a day that you cannot be exposed to it. You would be surprised to find that it can be difficult. For instance, shrimp is used in many cooking sauces. Gluten is in soy sauce, gravies, all kinds of foods. Dairy in the form of lactose or casseine is a hidden ingredient. It isn’t as easy as just avoiding a food. It can be done, but it takes effort and vigilance.</p>

<p>Avoiding foods can also pose nutritional challenges.</p>

<p>Most colleges we have contact with already do the things that Lesley is being asked to do. Labelling ingredients is really key to the problem I described above.</p>

<p>I forget that the general public may not understand the term “disability,” which covers many health issues that are invisible, not just people in wheelchairs or who are, say, blind.
The idea really is that everyone should have equal access- including access to food! If something needs to be done to “level the playing field” - or the cafeteria - then it should be done, so that every student can walk in to the dining hall and have a good meal, without fear of reaction. </p>

<p>Otherwise, we end up with a situation in which families and students are choosing schools based on that access to food. If one school is good with these issues and another school isn’t, then the kid will choose the former. It really isn’t fair for choices of schools to be limited in this way, and I have seen that situation quite recently on CC.</p>

<p>Accommodations are not favors: they are intended to make things equal, that’s all.</p>

<p>Here is the settlement, which explains why accommodations are needed to provide equal access to all services of the school; it also explains “disability”: <a href=“http://www.ada.gov/lesley_university_sa.htm[/url]”>http://www.ada.gov/lesley_university_sa.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Well, this is all very eye-opening. </p>

<p>True story: my son was not allowed to bring any food to Scout camp (because “everyone” would want to) nor would the camp alter its menu or prepare it in advance enough for us to read. The food they served they had no actual reference for ingredients. They would not reduce his mandatory camp fee, which by their own admission was 60% cost for food that he was unable to eat. There was literally nothing safe for him (he is celiac – which, fwiw, is not an allergy, it’s an autoimmune disease) but they would not voluntarily accomodate us in any way. I ended up driving to camp every lunch and dinner and he ate in our car, so he could attend with his friends. </p>

<p>Colleges operate a similar way. They often require residence, which requires a board contract. Their board contract was only required to provide an alternative, per former ADA interpretations. As has been mentioned, that usually means “Instead of having a full complement of nutritious choices for a balance diet, you may eat this item: ---------: for the years you are matriculating, yet still pay the full rate”. If everyone else in the department store is paying $100 for a beautiful sweater, would you want to pay $100 for a paper gown? </p>

<p>People die from allergy reactions every single day. My son almost died as an undiagnosed celiac. Disability? I’ll not attempt to argue about definitions of words, it really isn’t important to agree on that part. I find some of your attitudes disheartening and unkind, and unnecessary. Why would a person without allergies or food conditions resent this ruling? What difference does it make to you? If you want my son’s meals, come on over. But you have to take everything that goes with it, too.</p>

<p>Why so many food allergies? I don’t know. I do think one of the reasons we hear more about them is that more of us eat out, buy convenivience/processed foods, etc. When you grow and cook your own food, you don’t need anyone to warn you about what is in it. Also, in the past, there were a whole lot of people who were “sickly” or “invalids.” Who knows what was really the issue.</p>

<p>An aside, and sorry to those of you who have read this already on other threads: I had a very bad reaction to some quesadillas at a chain restaurant. I emailed the company and received a list of all of the ingredients…I counted…something in the neighborhood of 187 ingredients, many chemical names.</p>

<p>I am reacting badly to more and more foods as I age. I know that I have autoimmune issues, and I assume that is the problem.</p>

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Amen!</p>

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Excellent point.</p>

<p>Proudpatriot - an allergy that rises only to the level of needing to avoid a certain food is not considered a disability, but one that threatens a life function does. It is no different than other disabilities. My daughter has difficulty reading, but it is not considered a learning disability, because she has found ways to compensate. My husband is legally blind without his glasses, but is not considered disabled. If his vision couldn’t be corrected, he would be considered disabled.</p>

<p>This settlement is about dealing with those for whom labeling isn’t enough. Some colleges already make an effort to accomodate these students - on one overnight visit my D had dinner in a special dining facility (it was an open house, and the main dining room was packed). It was a small facility that catered to vegans and students with allergies and other food related issues (such as celiac). They found it much easier to manage the diets of students who needed these services in a smaller facility, but also found it was more cost effective when they broadened it to include vegans who have a restrictive diet by choice.</p>

<p>If a college is going to insist that students must be on the meal plan, then they need to find a way to accommodate those with restrictive diets. Perhaps opting out should be an option, but if so it should be an option for any student. They need to look at the reason behind requiring the meal plan. If it is to ensure that all students are eating, and remain healthy, then they need to do so for the students with dietary restrictions too.</p>

<p>In 1986, a Brown student died after eating chili at a restaurant that had been thickened with peanut butter; indeed, peanut butter used to be an off-label thickener for ice cream. The 1986 case is the earliest case I remember; when I was a kid and threw up from eating peanuts at a neighbor’s, my pediatrician said it was probably because I had eaten too many, so I absolutely agree that there wasn’t a heightened awareness 40+ years ago. There was a horrific story about 15 years ago of a mother who bullied her son’s allergic friend into eating a cookie against his will with nuts/peanuts and the kid died. Educating people about the severity of allergies, it seems to me, is half the battle.</p>

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<p>I do no think the ruling makes a distinction between the two.</p>

<p>D1 & I are both gluten-intolerant. I’ve had the full battery of GI tests, so I know it’s not true celiac, however any minute bit of gluten can send my GI tract out of whack for several days. Before I figured this out, I had many sick days that I spent the entire day in the bathroom. D1 is the same way. How is this different that a diabetic or epileptic who is generally under control except when something triggers them?</p>

<p>I think it would be nice to ignore the radical who is hijacking the thread and have an actual conversation about the topic at hand. Allergy issues are complicated.</p>

<p>I used to have a very severe airborn allergy that I thankfully have grown out of. If anyone came anywhere near me with any sort of artificial fruit flavored gummy snack… gummy bears, fruit roll ups, etc, my throat would swell shut. All I had to do was smell it. I didn’t have any kind of accommodations in school, and actually there was an incident in middle school where a boy purposefully chased me with something I was allergic to and nothing was done about it. But what I found most awkward wasn’t forced situations like school, but social situations-- or situations involving complete strangers. Going to the movie theater with a group of friends, maybe some I didn’t know so well, and them bringing something I was allergic to-- what could I do? Or sitting next to someone at a baseball game who had something I was allergic to-- what do you do in that situation? I felt intensely uncomfortable having to ask anybody to do anything for me so whatever the situation was I usually had to just leave-- sometimes you can get up and just move to another seat but sometimes you really can’t. When I was a child and couldn’t just get up and leave by myself I hid in the bathroom until it was time to go. It would be nice if society had rules about this that we could all work with reasonably and comfortably, but I’m still not sure if there are such rules.</p>

<p>The ruling states that food allergies “may constitute a disability” and requires any modification plan to be processed through the Disability office. That is the place to start with any potential disability - it is that office that determines if the allergy rises to the level of a disability. I don’t think that’s unreasonable. That office works with the student to come up with a plan to accommodate as necessary.</p>

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<p>That seems reasonable. My daughter needs to be gluten-free, but she’s accommodated just fine with a dining hall that offers gluten-free products (bread, pasta, desserts) and is sensitive to cross contamination. Indeed, she gets to be placed into that same dorm / dining hall all 4 years, which is nice. But it’s not life-threatening the way a peanut allergy is.</p>

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I think this is the point that folks who don’t have family members with severe food allergies don’t get–these allergies do limit your activities, and the more severe the allergies are, the more severe are the limitations. My son is allergic to peanuts, and this means that there are certain kinds of restaurants he can’t eat in, ever. It means he can’t buy cookies from a bake sale. It means that he has to be super-careful in the college dining hall, and that he can’t eat foods that have been too near the peanut butter. No, he doesn’t have to live in a plastic bubble, but I think it’s too bad that he can’t eat in a Thai or Vietnamese restaurant–ever. To him, peanuts are a deadly poison that most people are immune to.</p>