An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 9 – Interactive Process: Employees and Students

A school may, however:

 Ask applicants to identify needed accommodations with respect to the application process.  Ask applicants about disabilities after a conditional offer.  Ask applicants about disabilities post offer.

The DOJ settled with Gwinnett College, a private educational institution covered by Title III, arising from the college’s pre-admission inquiry concerning applicants’ medical condition. 1622 In October , a student applied to Gwinnett’s Medical Assistant program. As part of the enrollment process, the school asked the applicant to complete a health questionnaire in which she disclosed that she had HIV. Gwinnett did not ask the student any follow up questions related to her HIV and enrolled her in the program. In December of that year, the student asked her Medical Law and Ethics professor if she would be required to take any additional precautions during her upcoming phlebotomy course as a result of her HIV status. The professor said she would have to use the same universal safety precautions as all health professionals. The following January, the next quarter of classes began. The President of Gwinnett told the student she could not continue in the program due to her HIV status. He believed she was a safety risk to others in the class. He said she would have to switch to either the Medical Office Administration program or the Massage Therapy program if she wanted to remain enrolled at Gwinnett. The student reluctantly switched to the Medical Office Administrator program. She took two more classes at Gwinnett before deciding to switch to another school to complete her studies. Before leaving, the student requested that the President revisit his decision regarding her need to withdraw from the Medical Assistant program, but he did not agree to meet. The DOJ determined that Gwinnett discriminated against this student by forcing her to withdraw from the Medical Assistant program based on her HIV status. The settlement reached between the DOJ and the college required the college to drop from its student Health Questionnaire the question regarding HIV status. The settlement also required the college to draft a non- discrimination policy regarding disability discrimination in general, including discrimination based on HIV status. The college also paid the student $19,257 to compensate her, as well as paying back her loan balance for the tuition she paid to Gwinnett. E. R EASONABLE A CCOMMODATION A ND T HE I NTERACTIVE P ROCESS 1. D ETERMINING W HETHER A S TUDENT I S D ISABLED Title III applies to students or student applicants who have a physical or mental impairment that “substantially limits” one or more major life activities, or have a record of said impairment, or are regarded as having such an impairment. 1623 The terms “physical or mental impairment” and “major life activities” are defined in the implementing regulations. 1624 Notably, specific learning disabilities are included within the definition of “physical or mental impairment” 1625 and the term “learning” is included within the definition of “major life activity.” 1626 Accordingly, Title III is

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