“Colleges and universities are especially vulnerable because they know their students and often require them to eat on campus, Eve Hill of the Justice Department’s civil rights division says.”
“People with severe food allergies have a new tool in their attempt to find menus that fit their diet: federal disabilities law. And that could leave schools, restaurants and anyplace else that serves food more vulnerable to legal challenges over food sensitivities.” [AP]
I would agree with Don. I have allergies to tons of things. When I was in college, I ate from the salad bar or off campus at times. You would think the colleges would not want the ADA going after them when all that is needed is to let the student out of the meal plan. It has to be cheaper. (I will note that people with rare conditions or severe allergies will always end up paying more for things because of the rarity. Insurance excludes some medications for rare conditions, etc. To a degree, it’s going to happen. Whether it needs to or not is another story.)
Dont agree with the ADA classification but having first hand knowledge of this with my daughters room mate does make me believe there has to be a middle ground. She suffers from seizures when eating foods that unknown to her have items she is allergic to in them. All the universities have to do is relax their rules and let people like this off the meal plan so they can fend for themselves based on their own dietary knowledge as well as doctors advice. It’s really a simple solution but the universities dont budge on it, even when the doctor is involved in the discusiion.