Schools
Students with Type 1 Diabetes are entitled to a wide array of protections while at school, including reasonable accommodations so that the student may properly manage their T1D while receiving all aspects of the educational experience. Some common accommodations that students with T1D are entitled to are, inter alia (i) being permitted to use the bathroom and water fountains at all times without limitation; (ii) being permitted to have food and drink with them at all times without limitation; (iii) having access to all supplies, including their cell phone during the school day, including during testing within reason; (iv) being permitted to use the nurses office whenever necessary and without limitation to manage their diabetes; (v) being permitted to remain in the classroom, if they wish, to perform all diabetes management tasks; and (vi) being provided with stoppage time on exams so that blood sugar may be corrected without an exhaustion of allowable time. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list. Please also note that with regard to stoppage time on exams vs extra time on exams that stoppage time will provide the student with the best test-taking environment as the clock can be stopped whenever the student needs to manage their T1D, whereas extra time will eventually run out.
Students with Type 1 Diabetes are entitled to reasonable accommodations during all school sponsored activities, includes during the regular school day, during all school trips and during all school extracurricular activities such as sports, arts and music.
If your child is being discriminated against at school, including not receiving reasonable accommodations, you are protected by both Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The link below to the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is a good place to start to file a complaint, which may be filed by anyone who believes that an education institution that receives financial assistance from the federal government has discriminated against someone on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability or age. This typically includes all public schools and most public and private colleges, as well as some other entities, such as vocational rehabilitation agencies and libraries (for private schools that do not accept financial assistance from the federal government see “OTHER” below about filing an ADA complaint with the United States Department of Justice). For claims of disability discrimination (including disability-related retaliation), covered entities also include all state and local government entities, even if they do not receive Federal funds. The person or organization filing the complaint need not be a victim of the alleged discrimination, but may complain on behalf of another person or group as well.
Discrimination complaints, by law, must ordinarily be filed with the Office for Civil Rights within 180 days of the last act of discrimination. If your discrimination complaint involves matters that occurred outside this 180 day period, you will be required to obtain a waiver by showing good cause why you did not file your complaint within the 180 day period.
It is completely free to file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights, and all complaints will be investigated by the United States Department of Education. If they determine that discrimination did occur or is occurring, they will then help to resolve the issue through various means including mediation.
Please note that as it stands, you must exhaust multiple levels of administrative remedies prior to being permitted to file a complaint in court under the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Rehabilitation Act. While having Type 1 Diabetes on its own doesn’t qualify a student for protections under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), courts have consistently held that students with Type 1 Diabetes must exhaust all of the administrative remedies under IDEA prior to being permitted to filing a case under the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act. These multiple levels of administrative remedies include (1) a hearing at the district level; and (2) a hearing at the state level. Once those two hearings are complete, assuming that the issues have not been resolved, you are permitted to proceed with filing a complaint in court under the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. If you do not exhaust these administrative remedies you will be barred from filing in court except in extremely limited circumstances.
The following links are to (1) the website for the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights; (2) a PDF with directions on how to file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights; and (3) a link to where you may file a discrimination complaint.