Americans with Disabilities Act may support gluten-free KSU students with help from the university

Kent State students with celiac disease or gluten-intolerance may be eligible for accommodations through the university with the help of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The ADA is a civil rights law passed in 1990 that protects the rights of people with disabilities. It requires that universities do not discriminate against a person based on disabilities and provide reasonable accommodations for students to participate in the programs and services.

Marcy Hintzman, visiting research specialist at the Great Lakes ADA Center, said the ADA defines a person with a disability as someone who has a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, “such as eating, for example,” Hintzman said. “Major life activities can also include things like major bodily functions, such as the gastrointestinal system.”

Therefore, the ADA protects people with celiac disease. Depending on the severity of the intolerance, the ADA may also protect people with gluten-intolerance.

Jessica Urig, an off-campus senior public relations major, said she faces diarrhea, vomiting, acid reflux, cystic acne and other symptoms when she eats gluten, despite not having celiac disease.

The University Culinary Services website says students can meet with a registered dietitian to learn about options within the dining facilities or can connect with Student Accessibility Services to request accommodations for food allergies.

“As a student, it’s your responsibility to notify the school that you have a disability and you have food allergy needs and you need to do it in a timely manner so they can respond and provide you with those modifications,” Hintzman said.

Forster said meeting with a university’s dietician can help inform students of the gluten-free options available.

“It generally takes meeting with me, or another dietician, to really find out what those offerings are and to make it more widely known… where they can find gluten free offerings,” Forster said.

On the other hand, it is the responsibility of the university to provide accurate allergen information and a point of contact for students with questions, Hintzman said.

Mace Saenger, a student who helped write the Change.org petition against the dining halls and senior computer engineering major, agrees that communication between dining staff and students is key to improving the quality of service. 

“If you need accommodations, if you need reparations, case by case basis, talk to [dining services] because they’ll help you out, it’s just a matter of… [going] through the right people, ” Saenger said. “Talk to them, because they do want to help.”

Dining services has collaborated with the Undergraduate Student Government to improve several aspects of dining on campus, including communication.

“USG asked us to provide a QR code for in-the-moment feedback, and we will deliver. Starting in October, look for a QR code in our napkin holders as well as a link on our website that will take you to a short survey on how your meal was and/or to give us general feedback,” said the Division of Student Affairs in an email.

The Division of Student Affairs also said that they provide daily menus on the @ksudining Instagram page. However, Travis Chambers, an advertising sophomore major, has noticed that the menus are not always accurate.

Chambers said the gluten-free lunch option at Eastway on Sunday was french toast and scrambled eggs, as indicated on the @ksudining Instagram page. When he got there, he discovered that the location ran out of french toast. The only gluten-free meal available was salad.

Kalyn Reichling, a sophomore environmental conservation biology major, doesn’t have any food restrictions and still struggles to eat in the dining halls.

“I don’t have any dietary restrictions and I still can’t find anything in the dining halls,” Reichling said. “A person who is vegan or vegetarian or gluten-free or has a dairy allergy or any kind of food allergy, really. I can’t imagine trying to eat on this campus.”

Although the ADA is open to interpretation, the Department of Justice helped to define how the law impacts college students with celiac disease in 2012 when they made an agreement with Lesley University, a college in Massachusetts, to accomodate students with celiac disease based on the ADA.

In the agreement, Lesley University agreed to:

• Provide ready-made gluten-free food options in its dining hall;
• Release students with celiac disease from the required meal plan;
• Develop individualized meal plans for students with food allergies and allow those students to pre-order allergen free meals;
• Provide allergen information and more.

Beyond Celiac, a patient advocacy and celiac disease research foundation, wrote on their website that “the agreement set a legal precedent in favor of students living with celiac disease and food allergies. It also serves as a guideline for other schools to follow.”

Saenger said that the gluten-free options on campus have gotten better, but they still hope that Kent State will create more options for students.

“They can’t do everything, but they have listened, they are listening and there are things getting tangibly better,” Saenger said.

The Americans with Disabilities act may protect gluten-free students with meal plans at KSU. https://t.co/mndDUM8dhA

— Megan Becker (@BeckerReporting) October 26, 2021