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Federal Education Laws Affecting Children with Diabetes

Published:
1-March-2005

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

No otherwise qualified individual with handicaps in the United States . . . shall, solely by reason of . . . handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Legal Information

Federal Education Laws Affecting Children with Diabetes

Purpose
A civil rights law to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. Also prohibits retaliation for asserting the right not to be discriminated against.

What children are covered?
To be protected by Section 504 the student must have a disability defined as:

  • a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of major life activities;
  • a record of such an impairment, or
  • being regarded as having such an impairment.

What schools are covered?
Section 504 applies to all public schools and to private schools that receive federal financial assistance.

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Section 504 Of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973

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Americans With Disabilities Act

Disability Rights

What must school provide?
Public Elementary and Secondary Schools must:

  • Identify children with disabilities;
  • Provide a "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) to each child with a disability.  This means providing regular or special education and related aids and services designed to meet the individual educational needs of students with disabilities as adequately as the needs of students without disabilities are met;
  • Educate children with disabilities with other students as much as possible;
  • Allow parents to participate meaningfully in decisions regarding their children; and
  • Afford children with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities.

Preschool Education or Day Care Programs must:

  • Not exclude qualified students with disabilities; and
  • Take into account the needs of students with disabilities in determining the aid, benefits, or services to be provided.

Postsecondary Institutions must:

  • Inform applicants of the availability of auxiliary aids, services, and academic adjustments, and the name of the person who coordinates the school's Section 504 program.
  • Note: student must be otherwise qualified for the program.

Section 504 Plans
Covered schools are required to provide reasonable accommodation in order to allow students with disabilities to receive an education that is comparable to that provided to students without disabilities. Parents should document this accommodation in a Section 504.

What should be in a Section 504 Plan?
Each child with diabetes will have his or her own needs and a Section 504 Plan must be individually developed. However, all plans should include assurance that there are staff members trained to test blood glucose levels, recognize hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, and to respond in accordance with the directions in the child's Health Plan.

Other typical accommodations include:

  • Assuring that there is staff trained to administer insulin and glucagon.
  • Assuring that any staff member with immediate custodial care of the child is trained to recognize high and low blood sugar levels and knows what he or she is supposed to do in response. This would include staff members such as teachers, coaches, and bus drivers.
  • Allowing the child to test his/her blood sugar level and take necessary actions in response, or, if the child is not yet able to do so, provisions for who will perform this task.
  • Allowing the child to self-administer insulin or, if the child is not yet able to do so, provisions for who will perform this task.
  • Provisions for where blood sugar levels will be tested and insulin administered.
  • Insuring full participation in all sports, extracurricular activities, and field trips, with the necessary assistance and/or supervision provided.
  • Eating whenever and wherever necessary, including eating lunch at an appropriate time with enough time to finish eating.
  • Taking extra trips to the bathroom or water fountain.
  • Permitting extra absences for medical appointments and sick days when necessary.
  • Making academic adjustments for classroom time missed for medical appointments, testing, or because of periods of high or low blood sugar.

Health Care Plans
This is the document that describes the medical care that a child is to receive at school. The Health Care plan should detail care such as:

  • When blood glucose testing should occur.
  • Who should do the testing.
  • Where the testing occurs.
  • That child's usual pattern of symptoms for hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia
  • What actions should be taken in response to different blood sugar levels including the type and amount of insulin or food to be given, when glucagon should be given, and who is responsible for each of these actions.
  • When the child should eat and necessary details on amount and content of meals and snacks.
  • Any special changes that should be made in response to exercise.
  • Where diabetes supplies are kept.
  • Emergency numbers to reach the parents and doctor/health care provider and when each should be called.

Process under Section 504

  • Determine eligibility
  • Prepare a 504 Plan
  • Resolve Any Problems
  • Educate
  • Negotiate
  • Grievance Procedure
  • Impartial Hearing
  • State Complaint Resolution Process
  • Federal Complaint Resolution Process (OCR)

SOURCE: American Diabetes Association
http://www.diabetes.org/advocacy-and-legalresources/discrimination/school/schoollaw.jsp
This document was prepared for the American Diabetes Association by Larisa Cummings, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Inc., and Shereen Arent, Managing Director of Legal Advocacy, American Diabetes Association (March 2000)