[nfbmi-talk] Fw: scotus asked totake sd case

[David Robinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: joe harcz Comcast 
To: David Robinson NFB MI 
Cc: terry Eagle ; Mark Eagle 
Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2015 7:20 AM
Subject: scotus asked totake sd case


This is important for the list and all, for the ACLU is handling this civil rights case for PWD.

Joe Harcz
Supreme Court Asked To Weigh In On Service Dog Case

By

Michelle Diament

 

October 30, 2015 Text Size

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The family of a Michigan girl with cerebral palsy is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their case. (Thinkstock)

 

The family of a Michigan girl with cerebral palsy is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their case. (Thinkstock)

 

A court case pitting a girl with cerebral palsy against school officials who tried to deny her access to her service dog may be headed to the U.S. Supreme

Court.

 

The family of Ehlena Fry is asking the high court to weigh in on a case they brought against the Napoleon School District and the Jackson County Intermediate

School District in Jackson County, Mich. after school officials said Fry could not be accompanied to class by her service dog, Wonder.

 

According to court documents, Fry’s family obtained Wonder in 2009 to help the then-5-year-old with various tasks including balance, retrieving dropped

items, opening and closing doors and turning on lights. But, school officials would not allow Wonder to accompany Fry.

 

When the American Civil Liberties Union intervened on Fry’s behalf, the school did allow Wonder to attend in a limited fashion, but subsequently barred

the dog again. At that point, Fry’s parents decided to home-school her.

 

In May 2012, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights determined that the school district had violated Fry’s rights under the Americans

with Disabilities Act. Nonetheless, Fry’s parents said they remained concerned about how welcoming the school would be to their daughter with her dog and

they elected to enroll her in another school district.

 

The Frys sued in December 2012, alleging that denying the dog violated their daughter’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This month, the

family petitioned the Supreme Court after a lower court dismissed the case because they did not first seek an administrative hearing on the matter under

the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

 

“To force a child to choose between her independence and her education is not only illegal, it is heartless,” said Michael Steinberg, legal director of

the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, which is representing Fry’s family in the case. “It’s time for the Supreme Court to settle a dispute among

the lower courts and give Ehlena Fry her day in court.”

 

Tim Mullins, an attorney for the Napoleon district, told the Associated Press that he is doubtful the Supreme Court will take up the case.

 

 

Source:

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/10/30/supreme-service-dog-case/20915/