Federal Law and the Accommodation of Students with LD

Abstract

This article explores the genesis and development of the Guckenberger v. Boston University case, detailing the pertinent facts and issues of the case and analyzing the court's decision. The overall question posed by the case (as considered from the perspective of the plaintiffs' attorneys) was whether Boston University violated federal law in its response to the requests for reasonable accommodations by students with learning disabilities. The article quotes primarily from the decision issued by Federal Judge Patti Saris. The court's decision signified an important development in the field of higher education and set an extraordinary precedent in favor of students with disabilities under both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Boston University, Office of the Vice President and Dean of Students. (n.d.). Boston University disability services [Pamphlet). Boston: Author.

Guckenberger v. Boston University, 974 F. Supp. 106 (D. Mass. 1997).

Westling, J. (1995, July). Disabling education: The culture wars go to school. Transcript of a speech presented at Boston, Melbourne, Oxford Conversazioni on Culture and Society , Sidney, Australia.