Judge Rules In Favor Of Letting Autistic Boy Take Service Dog To School
(Los Angeles Times)
June 15, 2011
SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA– [Excerpt] By the time summer school starts in early July, Caleb will probably walk into class with a golden retriever at his side.
Caleb Ciriacks is a 7-year-old severely autistic boy who for the most part doesn’t speak. He shrieks and paces when he gets anxious, and on occasion he pinches and scratches others. Eddy is Caleb’s service dog, tethered to the boy by a red strap. The dog keeps Caleb from running off into crowds or darting into traffic, and he knows to intervene when the boy starts to feel anxious.
When Caleb entered first grade last year, school officials in Cypress refused to let him take Eddy to school. Caleb’s parents sued in federal court, alleging that the district was discriminating against their son based on his disability.
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Santa Ana ruled that Frank Vessels Elementary School must let Caleb take Eddy to school and that the boy was probably a victim of discrimination. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys filed a “statement of interest” in the case, saying the school district was violating the boy’s civil rights and misinterpreting the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Entire article:
Judge rules in favor of letting autistic boy take service dog to school
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/2011/red/0615a.htm
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