Justice Department Criticizes Rhode Island Sheltered Workshop

By Christina Samuels from Education Week - On Special Education

The city of Providence, R.I., has shut down a program for intellectually disabled teenagers and adults after a U.S. Department of Justice investigation found that people in the program were working at manual labor for little or no pay.

The Harold A. Birch Vocational School program currently has an enrollment of 85, which accounts for virtually all of the students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the 23,600-student district. WPRI, the CBS television affiliate serving Providence, has covered the issue extensively, and has a link to the 17-page letter from the Justice Department outlining the department's findings.

Read more HERE.

Institutions To Close Under Deal With Feds

In what Justice Department officials are hailing as their third landmark agreement in as many years resolving Americans with Disabilities Act violations, one state will shutter most of its institutions and make strides toward enhancing community living opportunities for people with developmental disabilities.
Under the settlement announced Thursday, Virginia will make fundamental changes to its developmental disabilities system to greatly expand community living options for those currently living in state facilities and individuals at risk for institutionalization.
The plan calls for four of the state’s five institutions for people with developmental disabilities to close and, over the next 10 years, the state has committed to providing nearly 4,200 Medicaid home and community-based waivers.

See Michelle Diamente's article in Disability Scoop HERE.

Life-Threatening Peanut Allergy: Should a 1st Grader Be Home-Schooled Because of It?

By Gig Veres from news.gather.com

Should a first-grade girl with a life-threatening peanut allergy be home-schooled? Many parents in Edgewater, Florida think so. The child's allergy is severe enough to be considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the school says that they are required by law to accommodate her.

To do this, the students in her class are required to wash their hands before entering the classroom in the mornings and after lunch, and rinse out their mouths. The school had a peanut sniffing dog check the school during spring break.

Some parents are asking that the child be home-schooled, according to Yahoo! news. Accommodating the disabled is one thing, they seem to be saying, but it should be reasonable. Upsetting the structure of the classroom and students and placing the responsibility on 6-year-olds to wash their hands and rinse their mouths has become a controversial subject in Edgewater.

With all sympathy to the little girl suffering from a life-threatening peanut allergy, is it really best to place her in the classroom, exposed to that one 6-year-old classmate who may have forgotten to wash or rinse, as all children might do? What burden would the offender carry? Should the worst case scenario happen, what would the legal repercussions be?

One father thinks that small accommodations have added up to frustration for many. "If I had a daughter who had a problem, I would not ask everyone else to change their lives to fit my life."

Home-schooling would be a "reasonable" accommodation in this case, as is required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. What is unreasonable is placing small children in the position of potentially, even if inadvertently, causing the death of a fellow student.

Visit news.gather.com website HERE.

In House, First Congressman In Wheelchair To Preside On ADA Anniversary

The first member of the House of Representatives with quadriplegia will preside over the governing body on Monday in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., will be the first person using a wheelchair to take the helm of the House. The opportunity is possible because of recent alterations to the House Speaker’s platform making it wheelchair accessible through a series of lifts. READ MORE