What’s the standard for discrimination of kids with disabilities?
Children with disabilities have The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act to protect them from discrimination. But what if the bar to succeed with charges of discrimination is so high that it is not likely to be reached.
That was exactly the case with a student in Minnesota with a rare and severe form of epilepsy. Because most of these seizures occur in the morning, the student requested an afternoon instructional schedule. The school district said that was too big an accommodation for it to make. The student sued for discrimination under the ADA and Section 504. The district court denied the claim. The Eighth Circuit later supported the lower court, since it believed the family had not proven that the school district acted “in bad faith or gross misjudgment”. This standard is a higher standard than generally used in discrimination cases. It is also a very difficult standard for a plaintiff to prove.
Surprisingly, the Supreme Court has now ruled 9-0 that this different, higher standard, could not be applied. Instead, the Court said that the usual standard “deliberate indifference” needed to be applied as it is in most discrimination cases. This is the second time since 2023 that the Court has unanimously supported the civil rights of children with disabilities.
The decisions of these two cases are remarkable because the Court has generally been divided on most decisions in recent years. Advocates for children with disabilities are pleased with the decision. However, the decision only lowers the standard for redress, it does not decide the case and the child’s family now needs to return to the lower court for redress.
It has been FIFTY years since the fight for kids with disabilities won its first milestone. Fifty years later battles are still being fought.
