Editing Herzing Issues: ADA and Disability Accommodations (section)

=== HU-147: Accommodation request reframed by staff as a concern about the reporting student's patient-safety fitness for the clinical site ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
! style="width:14em" | Severity
| High
! Status
| CONFIRMED
|-
! Issue type
| Accommodation Request Reframed as Question About Student Fitness / Patient Safety
! Date added
| 2026-06-04
|-
! Owner
| colspan="3" | Emily/Emilie (ADA/Title IX)
|}
'''Finding.''' During the June 4, 2026 meeting, when the reporting student explained that his eight-hour limit and 4:30 PM medication timing are medically necessary and raised patient-safety reasons why he should not be on the floor past those limits, the risk of low blood sugar, medication wearing off, and GI effects, the ADA/Title IX coordinator (Emily/Emilie) responded that she was "a little concerned" that he seemed to have concerns, and stated that this could raise general concerns about patient safety with him being in the clinical site. This turns the student's own articulation of why his accommodation is needed into a question about whether he is fit to be in the clinical environment. Reframing an accommodation request as a doubt about the student's clinical fitness or patient safety can deter students from asserting accommodations and risks treating a disability-related need as a competence problem.

'''Evidence.''' Emily/Emilie: "I will be transparent that I am a little concerned that you seem to have concerns about... [the exact end time]; based on what you are sharing, [concern] if we are having generally concerns about patient safety with you being in the clinical site." The reporting student: "patient safety should never depend on me independently... there should be a nurse or someone who I am shadowing... what I do not want to happen is to be on the floor and pass out because my blood sugar has dropped because I am there two hours late, or miss a step because my medication is wearing off." (Source: June 4, 2026 recorded meeting, audio and transcript.)

'''Reported statement.'''
<blockquote>I will be transparent that I am a little concerned that you seem to have concerns about [it]... if we are having generally concerns about patient safety with you being in the clinical site.</blockquote>

'''Standards.''' Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. §12131 et seq.) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. §794): an institution may not treat a student's request for a disability accommodation as evidence that the student is unfit; doing so risks disability discrimination. Any direct-threat or fitness determination must be based on an individualized, evidence-based assessment, not on the student's act of requesting an accommodation or expressing safety concerns. OCR guidance discourages responses that penalize or pathologize accommodation requests. Cross-reference {{HU|HU-135}}, {{HU|HU-145}}.

'''Impact.''' By reframing the reporting student's accommodation request as a patient-safety concern about him, staff put the student in the position of having his disability-related needs treated as a potential disqualifier for the clinical site. This can chill future accommodation requests and creates a risk that a disability-related need is recharacterized as a competence or safety deficiency, which could affect his standing in the program.

'''Notes.''' Distinct from {{HU|HU-145}} and {{HU|HU-146}}; this concerns the reframing of the accommodation request as a fitness and patient-safety question. Cross-reference: {{HU|HU-135}}, {{HU|HU-145}}, {{HU|HU-146}}, {{HU|HU-142}}. Part of the June 4, 2026 meeting group ({{HU|HU-145}} through {{HU|HU-152}}).

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