Is Your Gluten-Free Lifestyle a Disability?
Though I wasn’t diagnosed with a gluten sensitivity until halfway through college, I remember actively NOT participating in a meal program at my university because of my allergy. I knew that one of the major draws of the dining hall lifestyle included smuggling bagels in paper towels for the following morning’s breakfast, or grabbing one (or three) extra cookies for the road. I was “getting my money’s worth.” But being relegated to an untrustworthy salad bar and questionable hot food changed my view of unlimited buffet dinners. I felt the suspect dining halls were not worth the health risk, and embraced a more “grown up” grocery shopping lifestyle instead.
Interestingly and recently, however, college students decided to speak out about their limited options at full price. Students at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts expressed their discontent with a required meal plan that could not sufficiently meet their gluten-free needs. In an inspiring gesture of support, the Department of Justice came to determine that these gluten-free students are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, arguing that the insufficient meal plan was “preventing people from eating,” which in turn prevented “them from accessing their educational program,” as advocated by a member of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, Eve Hill.
Furthermore, it has been determined that a disability should be defined as an environment that disables a person, placing the blame on the environment, not on the person inflicted with disease or other inhibiting factors. As such, living in a gluten-filled environment rendered these celiac students disabled, not the other way around.
While I am welcoming of the increased protection of the GF community with awareness and support, I am wary of opening this pandora’s box. To what end does this new definition of a disability extend? Don’t get me wrong, I definitely would love to see protection under the law for celiacs, but is it too extreme to liken it to other handicaps? When should something stop being a disability and start being the norm?
I think this is great news, especially sense quite a few campus’ require you to purchase the meal plan and not everyone can afford to shop outside of that. I would consider not being able to eat without getting sick to be a huge disadvantage, on a lot of levels.
My digestive system not working the same as “normal” people’s definitely feels like a disability some days. The Americans with Disabilities Act is all about making the environment you exist in livable and being able to eat without becoming crippling ill is a big deal. My life is absolutely easier than a lot of people whose disabilities are traditionally covered by ADA, but if you’re gonna make me pay for food, I sure as hell better be able to eat it.
In this situation the college forced them to buy a mandatory meal plan while not providing food that person could safely eat. Paying for that and paying for outside food on your own would be super expensive. They needed to either not force them to buy a meal plan or provide safe food.
I am a graduate of Lesley College (now university) and recently attended my reunion. Although I was assured I would be able to eat the planned meals for the 3 day weekend, unfortunately it turned out not to be true. I was unable to eat breakfast for two days, and one buffet dinner and none of the desserts (not so terrible). Luckily I had brought some Kind bars with me, so one of those, a carton of crappy high-sugar yogurt, and some fruit had to suffice. That part of the weekend wasn’t fun. So I am acutally very happy to hear one college has the courage to stand up and agree to the demand regarding the meal plan. Maybe other schools will sit up and take notice! Finally!
ADA is out there to protect every student. Some students may need it. Some may not. ADA is necessary until every student no longer needs protection. That is how laws like this work.
Most colleges and universities, as the author points out, force students who live on campus to purchase a meal plan. And if students with Celiac Disease can’t eat in the dining hall, for whatever reason, then they are paying twice for their food.
My personal experience: My dining hall offered limited gluten free selections. And those they offered were, in my opinion, unhealthy and often cross-contaminated. I actually got a job at the dining hall to assure myself that cross-contamination wasn’t occurring only – it was.
I couldn’t afford to pay for my food twice and eventually moved, as an undergraduate, into the graduate dorm. There were kitchens there and graduate students were excluded from the mandatory meal plan purchase requirement. A professor helped me into the graduate dorm otherwise I am not sure I would have gotten in.
Personally, I don’t care if they want to label it as a disability. But the point is the colleges ARE creating a problem. My daughter is a Sophomore in High School. I can’t, in good conscious, let her attend a school where she can’t EAT for four years (and I’m certainly NOT paying for a meal plan that doesn’t have adequate GF food). So there are basically two problems. 1) Mandatory meal plans. If a school has one and won’t make exceptions (even though the food would poison someone with Celiac) then someone has to make them. 2) Some colleges might end up being cut from my daughter’s list if they can’t feed her. Should her college choices be limited by the cafeteria? What if it is her DREAM school? I never thought of my daughter as disabled, but when you look at it from that angle, it kind of IS a disability if certain options would be CLOSED to her. If she picks a school that doesn’t have a GF friendly cafeteria, then at the LEAST I expect them to not only exempt her from the meal plan, but also make it possible for her to eat on her own. Many dorms don’t allow certain cooking equipment, microwaves, etc. due to either fire hazards or electricity problems. Would they be willing to let her have what she needs? If not, would they allow her to live off campus in an apartment (b/c a LOT of schools REQUIRE freshman to live on campus in the dorms). These are just some of the issues that we are concerned about as we are entering the phase of looking at schools. I don’t know that the government needs to force every college to have a GF section of every cafeteria, but they do need to step in where it is grossly unfair. You can’t tell a blind student that they can’t have their seeing eye dog. You can’t tell a Celiac student that they can’t have access to the food they need. If they can’t provide it, they need to make allowances for those students by exempting them from other rules. (And SAYING you have a “GF program” when it is really only a salad bar does NOT count).
Kim, are meal plans mandatory? My son will be a Sophmore in High School so we aren’t ready for college yet, but it’s on the horizon. I haven’t looked into meal plans yet but this article definitely opened my eyes! When I went to college in NV the meal plan was suggested, but not mandatory. However back then, there weren’t as many allergies or now, disabilities. Regardless, students, with all types of allergies/disabilities, should be able to eat safely.
I agree with the fact that the meal program should not be charged to a student who cannot eat the food. I am a celiac and so is my son who is now attending college. Forcing a school to provide GF food doesnt mean they are aware of the potential cross contamination issues that can affect some celiacs, like my son. It is called gluten ataxia and if you consume small crumbs, like from a salad bar, it can within 30 minutes affect your central nervous system and walking, talking, vision can all be affected. Forcing GF food into uneducated spaces is not the answer. Wave the meal program and allow students to either live off campus, during all years of college, or allow small appartment size refrigerators, and microwaves for those that want to live in the dorm. They allow dogs in dorms for blind or wheel chair bound people they should be able to allow something to ease the burden of a debilitating food allergy that really is a disability in many definations of the word.
Well said Kim! My daughter is a freshman in college this year. During her college search we definitely had to cross off schools that could not fully accommodate her diet. It IS very limiting, but had to be the FIRST thing we looked at for every single college. Some colleges will make it seem like they accommodate and claim to label the food that is GF but upon close inspection you only find labels on things like ketchup, lettuce, canned beans,
plain rice. Try to eat well every day with those choices…can’t be done! My daughter ended up at Lawrence University in WI and I couldn’t be happier! Not only is it an amazing school but the dining hall is to die for! They have a variety of vegetarian, vegan and GF options for every meal including entrees, side dishes, and homemade desserts. And I’m not talking plain chicken! They make GF dishes with sauces, ethnic dishes, GF pasta, GF pizza, GF brownies, GF muffins…I can’t say enough about the wonderful chef there. They also get produce in season from the university student-run garden and try to buy local, sustainable meats, cheeses, produce, etc. If you have a gluten intolerant child heading off to college, do not overlook the importance of being able to eat well! I can now rest easy knowing that my daughter is well fed and can concentrate fully on her studies. Hopefully our experience at Lawrence will become more the norm than the exception as more families search out colleges that take food allergies seriously.
Check out Ithaca College. We recently visited there with my daughter who has celiac. It is high on her list because they have a designated gluten free area where students can serve themselves from many frozen and the chef will make anything from a list of options. My daughter had chicken parm and veg. Talked to a student with celiac. She told us that students can bring slices of gluten free bread to the deli and they will Chang gloves and the. Oars and make a sandwich. This is the best cafeteria we have seen so far.
In my opinion, no high quality school should be off the list for a prospective student with Celiac disease. I got a full scholarship at a very, very good small private college and although they had similar rules sited here (students had to live on campus freshman year), my Mother simply petitioned them to allow me to live off campus. I got a basement apartment a 5 minute walk from campus. Yes, I would have preferred to live in a dorm, but there were no clean cooking accommodations (any dorms with kitchens were shared, so there was flour everywhere from fledgling college cooks) and the cafeteria simply wouldn’t have been able to provide for me. There was far less awareness back them. For my sophomore year I was able to move into the college apartments with full kitchens with supportive roomates. As a Celiac, I’m ok with being labeled as “disabled” by food but I’m not ok with having my choices limited by my condition. Any situation can be made to work, but it just may require some pressure on the powers to be to allow some bending of the rules. Fire codes may not change, but you can always live off campus, even if it technically isn’t allowed.
It is exciting that many colleges seem to be receiving training in supporting the gluten-free diet. I just wonder if it is possible to limit cross contamination enough to make it as safe as a private kitchen… I’m hoping that it is, to make life a little easier for the next generations!
My son is at Lafayette College where the chef will cook to order a GF meal each day specifically for him. They have access to GF condiments, can stir fry on their own by picking up a clean pan in the kitchen or have a GF sandwich prepared with GF bread and GF cold cuts on a clean surface with clean gloves. Since my son wasn’t diagnosed until after he was a college student this was a huge relief. As we search for a school for our daughter, it is a top priority that the school can provide tasty, varied and nutritious meals. Some schools think that having a freezer of gf processed foods that the students can cook themselves in a microwave is sufficient, but 19 meals a week for 4 years of that isn’t acceptable for us.
Good conversation.
I have mixed feelings about this, too. I wasn’t dx’ed until I was 29, but when I reflected on my freshman campus days at Tulane (this was 20 years ago!), I thought, “Holy cow. What would I have done???” Eating (and living) on-campus was mandatory for out-of-state freshman. My standard quick lunch was a tuna sub.
I think if a school is going to have a mandate that freshman (or other students) eat on-campus, they should be required to provide a wide variety of choices. And I don’t think “bringing your own g.f. bread” qualifies. G.F bread is expensive! If one is REQUIRED to purchase a campus meal, we shouldn’t have to bring our own bread, pasta, etc. in order to make that happen!
I had never heard of Lawrence College as mentioned above, and my celiac son is only 11 (I have two older sons, but neither have CD) but I’m hoping that by the time he is ready for university, more schools will follow suit.
By the way… I homeschool. I didn’t CHOOSE homeschooling because of dietary/health issues, but I know people who have. We have homeschooled for eleven years. Next fall will be the first time my oldest two go off to a “real” brick and mortar school — a local, public charter school. They will be in 11th and 9th grades. My husband asked me, “What about Wesley?” Wes will be in 7th grade, and is my celiac. In addition, he is also anaphylactic to peanuts. I told my husband, “With celiac and peanuts… I don’t want to be the problematic mother who campaigns to change the menu and habits of a school just to PUT him in a school. I’d rather keep him at home than fight that emotionally-draining fight.” I’ve seen/heard other parents in similar situations for whom home schooling is not an option: You have to jump through incredibly difficult hoops to ensure that your child can eat safely on campus. It’s not worth it to me. But by the time he is an adult or close to it?? He’ll need more options than I had, when I was in college.
(And as another aside…. I had to withdraw from university after 2.5 years… I was horribly ill. It turned out that my bread-heavy diet was exacerbating all my lifelong celiac symptoms. I didn’t know WHY I was sick, though. There aren’t many things I wish I could go back in my life and do over, but university is one of them! If I had been healthy… WOW. How that would have changed things.)
For those looking into schools with adequate GF options, University of CT has one of the best GF programs I know of. (The director’s wife is a celiac). I went to a seminar of his a few years ago and even back then they were doing a lot to provide many options and prevent cross-contamination for students. It’s generally considered to be a decent school academically, and, being that it’s so large they have most majors that any student would be interested in.