Legal Question in Disability Law in Missouri

I am currently attending college in Branson, Mo. I attend a very strict, conservative school. I also have Muscualr Dystrophy. I made it very clear when I started attending this school that I was disabled. Well, first, they still made me take a P.E. class, in which I could not do ANY of the activites. That was my freshman year. Now, I am a Junior and have not had many problems since the P.E. class. But when I started this semester I asked the Dean of Work to place me in a work station that would not require standing or other physical activity. I then got placed in an office job, which is fine, only it is on the other side of campus...which is about a half mile from everythng else. So, I started driving my car to work to make it easier for myself. But the administration didn't like where I was parking, so I got my car banned from the campus. While all of this was happening, I told the Dean about my Muscular Dystrophy and that it was difficult for me to walk that long distance and all he said was, "Get a bike." So I did just that. It was even harder for me to ride a bike than walk and it made me be in a lot of pain. About a month after my banning, my bike got stolen. After that, I decided to drive my friends car to and from work (parking legally of course)and continued that for a few weeks. Well, two days ago, I got called into the Dean's office he said I was going to be kicked out of the college at the end of the semester for driving someone elses car while mine was banned. I feel like I have not been accomidated at all from this college. Is there some law against not accomidating people with disabilities? I just feel like I have been discriminated against.


Asked on 11/13/09, 10:37 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Anthony Smith LawSmith

Certianly there are prohibitions to creating and mainting obstacles to persons with disabilities from attending and particpating in nearly every public property. Did you physician ever give the documents to obtain a handicap parking license plate or placard? That shoudl have somewhat taken care of the parking issue. If you physician never felt that you were "disabled" to the point of needing special p[arking accomodation, then that might hurt your claim that the treatment at the school is violative of your rights. If the school takes federal funding or uses public property to conduct its business, then it has to adhere to certain guidelines and follow certian procedures in assessing and providing reasonable accomodation(s) for a person with an ambulatory disability. You need consult direclty with a civil attorney in yrou area to go over the specifics of yrou case, so that they can ask you follow up questions and better assess your legal position.

Good luck

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Answered on 11/18/09, 3:20 pm


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