Thread by @kurteichenwald

1. Plz RT

This is 80th day Ive tweeted bout @NotreDame driving out kid with #epilepsy. This wont stop til they apologize.

As promised, for this day I will get into new details. But first, plz join 33,000 others in signing petition demanding ND apologize: thepetitionsite.com/988/683/626/no…

2...for those who don't know the story, this kid was born with epilepsy following an in-utero stroke. He busted his butt to achieve his dream - attending @NotreDame. But his MD said that, to decrease his risk of severe seizures, he needed to stay in a single room. Reason...

3...is complex. The doctor wrote to ND and told them the boy could die without this accommodation. ND refused pleas from the family to consult experts - the kid's doctor, the epilepsy foundation, anyone they chose. Instead, said giving the kid a single room to keep him alive...

4...went against a critical part of ND education. Having a roommate in freshman yr taught students to care for others, they wrote. So they told the kid with epilepsy to risk death or leave. He abandoned his dream, and left.

Here are details of the story. statnews.com/2018/10/25/epi…

5...how could such a horrible thing happen? Because @NotreDame has adopted rules that it believes allows it to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is a completely subjective "If we say we won't give in, it's an undue burden for us to do so." Essentially, if every....

6...university in America had ND's completely illegal rules, people with disabilities could be denied access to education for 1000s of subjective reasons. If every school had ND's "policies" on roommates, anyone with this kid's form of epilepsy could never attend college...

7...the fact that, if every school used ND rules would force kids with this type of epilepsy to give up collge, seems difficult for @NotreDame to understand. That very fact that, universally applied, this would keep these kids out of school is a priori proof of discrimination...

10...So, let's start taking a close look at the law and ND rules, which almost certainly has resulted in discrimination against other kids with disabilities who needed reasonable accommodations.

The ADA is quite clear: Colleges must make any reasonable accommodation to...

11...allow a kid with a disability to attend. For example, if there was a kid in a wheelchair and no buildings were accessible, they would have to make enough of them accessible to allow participation in the program. That could mean a few ramps, classes on first floor, etc....

12...in other words, the ADA doesn't require a school to do EVERYTHING, but it has to do enough to allow access. There is the concept of undue burden - which under the law means requiring expenditures beyond a certain formula in terms of the schools financial wherewithal...

13...and also, requirements for classes cannot be changed. For example, if a science class absolutely required lab work to pass, and having no lab work would undermine the teaching of the class, even if a kid invokes ADA saying "can't do lab work" it doesnt have to change. The...

14...educational program - or what constitutes being educated in an academic class - does not have to be adapted if it undermines the learning outcome.

There are no other exemptions. None.

The @CivilRights Division of the @TheJusticeDept says that preference or policies...

15...cannot be used to deny someone access, which clearly saying "risk death or leave" does.

The ADA applies to Notre Dame under the public accommodations element of ADA, which includes all schools. www2.ed.gov/about/offices/…....

16...the law is quite clear: Just because they have a policy, just because they prefer kids having roommates, just because they might have difficulty finding a single room (they wouldn't - a contributor's daughter got one) doesnt give them the ability to deny accommodation...

17...this is not how @NotreDame sees things. In fact, if you read the page for the office involved in providing accommodations required under law, the "we dont have to if we dont want to" rule is right there. sarabeadisabilityservices.nd.edu

18...now, if you don't see the key rule, here it is attached and highlighted to this tweet. Anyone reading this with a knowledge of the law would assume this is the "have to take a lab in science course if a lab is required for completion" rule. But @notredame has unlawfully...

19...stretched this beyond reason. This is an excerpt of the letter that went to the kid. As you can see, @NotreDame accepted this was a serious matter, and accepted what the kid's neurologist said in writing - which was that putting the kid in a double could risk his death.....

20....yet DESPITE the fact they were saying "we accept that our rules could kill you" they went down the "but risk death or leave" route. Why? Because they decided, subjectively, that having a roommate was an essential part of the program, thus constituting an "undue burden"....

21...which they believed allowed them to declare they did not have to make an accommodation. No doubt, not having a roommate would "alter the residential life experience." Too frigging bad. That does not fall under the ADA as an exemption.....

22...and why was this so important? Why, without a roommate, this kid who has struggled since birth, who has fought and clawed his way to the point where he was accepted to Notre Dame, would not learn how to care for other people if he didn't risk death....

23...I have spoken to many people at @notredame since this has begun. What I have been told, repeatedly, is that this is an arrogant institution that refuses to acknowledge error - ever. That it is populated by wealthy, pampered people who consider themselves righteous, but who..

24...mistreat those who are different - including kids with disabilities. If what I have been told by students is true, then it is no wonder, because that is exactly the message being sent by the @NotreDame administration.

A major epilepsy group has offered to go speak with...

25...Notre Dame. They refuse to respond. I have reached out to them repeatedly before I even wrote this. No response. Their sole response has been to attack me, spewing defamation and falsehoods to attack me because I am pointing out the evil of what they have done.....

26...a final note about the kid: His parents realized that ND was trying to drive him out and, fortunately, put down a second deposit on another high-quality school that accepted him. When ND sent that letter, refused to contact any further, refused to speak to any expert...

27...they decided the boy had to leave. None of them were willing to let the boy risk death simply so @NotreDame could preen about its discriminatory policies. So, he contacted the second school's disability office. When he spoke to them he started to explain....

28...the nature of his epilepsy. Before he finished, the official from the good school said, "Oh, so you'll need a single room" - and then told the kid that they provided these all the time to kids in his situation.

When I first spoke to the family, they hadn't completely let...

29...go of the dream, there was a bit of hope that the kid could still attend @NotreDame somehow. And I told them: Notre Dame has shown what it is, and Notre Dame doesnt deserve him. The other school has shown its character. They deserve him.

As for filing a lawsuit...the....

30...family almost certainly would win. But there is one problem: This boy experienced the same discrimination so many people with epilepsy experience on a daily basis. If he filed, his name would be public. And any future employer could search the internet and learn he has....

31...poorly controlled epilepsy. And as his mother said, "He has to be able to get a job someday." And so @NotreDame gets away with it. For now.

Which is why I am engaged in this war. They have to pay a price. And this kind of treatment for folks with epilepsy must stop.

done.