Food Allergies Are Now A Disability Under ADA

the last resistance ^ | 5-3-13 | mark home

[TurboZamboni]

Lesley University is not nearly so isolated, but it has the same mandatory policy about its student cafeteria. There was a problem however. Several students had Celiac disease. They needed to eat gluten free in order to not get sick.

So naturally they told the college and the college allowed them an exception to the mandatory cafeteria plan, letting them keep the money and use it to buy gluten-free food off campus. Right?

No, the students sued the college to mandate that the college accommodate them. I don’t feel sorry for Lesley because, frankly, I still bear a grudge against all colleges that use this business model so that students are forced to pay for services they don’t want on condition of being a student. (Of course, that was the organization’s choice. I never dreamed of suing over it.) Now it has turned into a big expense because the only way to provide economical food is to be able to buy in bulk and mass produce the meals. That is no longer possible. Lesley University did not even fight for their right to determine what food they will provide. They caved and made the following concessions:

[sakic]

That doesn’t sound like an allergy.

[TurboZamboni]

or they could be like Duke (among others)and hike fees to cover sex change operations...

[RFEngineer]

“or they could be like Duke (among others)and hike fees to cover sex change operations...”

it’s the same game at Duke....Tuition, Fees, R&B. You raise one at a time and extoll your financial prudence on the other two. Repeat year after year.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The thing is, a one-size-fits-all meal plan cannot possibly foresee all food allergies that may arise. Maybe they shouldn’t be forcing all students onto it.

[Myrddin]

Gluten intolerance is the bane of my existence. It makes for a short menu everywhere and leaves some establishments completely unsatisfactory for patronage. Getting hit by unexpected gluten does come with a heavy penalty of lost work time in the bathroom along with extra TP and water. No thanks.

[Chgogal]

I was on a Holland American Line cruise this winter. One dinner guest was gluten intolerant. The Noordam provided the guest with a day ahead menu. He ordered his appetizer, main course and desert. Then, the next day, they served all his chosen courses gluten free. Cool, huh?

[Myrddin]

That's a "doable" solution.

[mom aka the evil dictator]

I am allergic to beef, eggs, milk, fish, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, apples, bananas, peaches, pears, wheat, corn, honey and artificial sweeteners. What do any of them besides the beef and milk have in common? Makes eating anywhere but home a challenge. And yes an allergist diagnosed me.

[muawiyah]

When it comes to the 3.5% number that's for America and it's coming from the special team assembled at University of Maryland to study celiac and wheat gluten intolerance in general.

Go tell them!

[muawiyah]

The typical restaurant will cook up all sorts of gluten free dishes and then spoil them by putting gluten containing products in them. It'll show up in the form of a thickener or soy sauce ~ which is made with wheat and soy.

Then there's barley flavoring ~ that's a favorite everywhere in the commercial food preparation business ~ for instance, Jack Daniel's ........ they put it in barbeque sauce.

[muawiyah]

Every now and then they have to replace the most common wheat cultivars because the rust has finally caught on, mutated as appropriate, and returned to eating wheat.

That means there's an ongoing world wide effort to develop new cultivars that are immune to the new rust.

Not too long ago the Australian group that studies wheat gluten intolerance did some work on the matter and discovered that the peptides that cause celiac probably can't be bred out of wheat, barley or rye. They are turning to a dietary supplement ~ maybe another digestive enzyme that you'd take like lactace pills, or the package of enzymes they provide kids with cystic fibrosis.

[muawiyah]

The way the family does this is that I cook up my stuff first if gluten is going to be a problem, and then they cook theirs. Alternatively they’ve learned to eat brown rice pasta and corn based pasta. The objective is to keep contamination to a minimum.

[muawiyah]

You have an inborn allergy to a chemical found in the peel of apples, pears as well as the inner bark of birch trees. It's also found in multi-flora hedge and can irritate scar tissue that comes in contact with it during hedge trimming sessions.

The chemical is destroyed during cooking ~ and yes, people eat the inner bark of birch since it's nearly pure sugar.

[handmade]

Every now and then they have to replace the most common wheat cultivar

I did not know that but it certainly makes sense.

I have friends who are genuinely intolerant to gluten- it is amazing how many foods have gluten added. In the case of my son I had three sets of menus. I could use one set for about three months then he would get the green nasal drainage and the pouchy tummy, and I would swap to another set of menus. He had a fair amount of heart damage- finally outgrew the heart murmur when he was about 17. Store bought food was not doable due to the garbage added. Therefore a large garden, canning and dehydrating stuff.

[handmade]

The thing is, a one-size-fits-all meal plan cannot possibly foresee all food allergies

Amazing how ignorant the nannies are about tings like that.

[HungarianGypsy]

What I have noticed is the celiacs, who often wish they could eat wheat,try their hardest not to inconvenience others. Many of the people I have heard complaining loudest about gluten free being catered to them have been those who use it as a fad diet.

[Technocrat]

OK, thanks! I might look into it further if symptoms do not continue to decrease.

[Eric Blair 2084]

You are right. There is some weird stuff going on. I don’t know what it is.

Fortunately, I’ve been on airline flights where guys have been downing cashews and peanuts and almonds. Nobody got sick.