Accessiblity for prospective student who uses crutches

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
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<p>I’m new to the forum and posting to help a young relative who wants to consider boarding school next year. The student’s parents are not quite on board yet with the idea, but will likely be supportive if there are realistic options available. The student uses crutches permanently and has some related issues that need periodic monitoring, but is in very good overall health, has no learning, mental health or other disabilities and is active, sociable, and as independent in taking care of personal needs as most young teens with relatively few accommodations. Academically strong with particular interests in the humanities and the arts, and needs more challenges. Won’t be able to keep up if the focus is very strongly on competitive sports, but can likely participate in some intermural or individual athletic activities with peers without disabilities.</p>

<p>We’re aware that legally, independent schools are required to make reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities if that will not fundamentally change the nature of the school program, but legality and reality don’t always match. Are there boarding schools that are a good fit for this young person’s strengths and have some recent experience in accommodating other students with mobility disabilities? Thank you.</p>

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<p>I would recommend finding schools you are interested in as schools first and then contacting the head of health services at those schools to discuss your individual situation. While I can’t speak to your particular situation, I know many schools have been wonderfully accomodating and helpful in a variety of medical situations. Something to think about may be the amount of walking required on a given campus. SPS is huge, NMH is huge and has quite a big hill, Suffield has a big hill. Hotchkiss, Taft, St. Mark’s are relatively compact with many facilities under one roof. Groton and Loomis also have smaller footprints.</p>

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<p>The reported overall size of the campus in acres doesn’t give a sense of what portion of the campus is developed. Who really care if the campus is 4000 acres if 99% of it is woods…</p>

<p>Because we live so far away from the schools, one tool we used before we visited was Google Maps. The satellite image and the terrain elevations helped to give us a sense of the footprint of the campus buildings. It becomes clear which campuses are compact and which are spread out, which campuses are on flat land and which are on a hill.</p>

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<p>There are definitely some campuses that require much more walking and some with buildings more centralized. My D’s school has 2500+ acres but, as GMT points out, the actual campus is relatively compact. That said, it has a lot of gravel paths and roads. </p>

<p>I think many schools would be interested in your relative (all other things being equal). I would just look for things like central dorms and campus walkability.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry about the athletics at all.</p>

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<p>Why wouldn’t you worry about athletics? Athletics is an integral part of most of the boarding schools programs. And while at some schools one may get away with not being on a team by doing something arts related, at the rest one cant. I would investigate athletic requirements rather thoroughly since the OP’s concern of real vs legal accommodations is valid, and knowing that a student wont be able to participate in something thats integral may hurt him. I would look at both, schools with a small footprint/non hilly icy walks and athletically non intrusive schools.</p>

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<p>A fair number of students do spend time on crutches at boarding school, over the course of four years. Active teenagers do sprain ankles, break bones, etc. The injuries don’t seem to happen on the playing fields so much as on the ski slopes. </p>

<p>I would think a good admissions team would be able to tell you whether or not the student has a chance at admission. Many schools allow students to pursue theater or arts activities in lieu of sports. There’s no hard-and-fast rule, though. At many schools, students are allowed one term “off”, i.e., they must play on two teams, with one arts activity, rather than three. You can ask whether these requirements may be adapted to the applicant’s physical limitations. I would recommend working up an email describing the child’s strengths and challenges. Send it to different schools. Follow up with the schools which are willing to consider adjusting the program. I think you will find better results at schools with strong arts programs, rather than schools which build the experience around team sports exclusively.</p>

<p>Other areas to consider: Dorms. Stairs. Schools have made efforts to be ADA-compliant, but they’re working with older buildings. Many schools have built elevators into older buildings. Ask the school’s nurses (doctor/infirmary/health services) how students with crutches have fared on campus.</p>

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<p>@mhmm - you don’t think most schools would accommodate a student with a physical disability to the extent that they are able? </p>

<p>I think there are many schools that would be interested in a kid who overcomes adversity and lives their life as normally as possible and is a high achiever.</p>

<p>I’d hate to send my kid to a school that would turn away someone like that because they can’t play lacrosse.</p>

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<p>To the extent that they are able, sure. Its the extent that I question and think that the OP needs to carefully consider the school culture. If the majority of kids play sports, and its part of the curriculum then someone who doesnt presents a logistical problem to the school. A school uses sports to promote the “in corpore sano” idea, to make kids bond better, and to get awards. If everyone is on the field, what does a school do with a child who can’t be on a field. Its logistics. If every Wed. everyone goes to meets, etc., where is the child that cant? How does that child not miss the camaraderie that comes from being on a team?
Which is why I said that a school culture needs to be looked at carefully before falling in love with that particular school and applying there. If a school has an easy policy of allowing kids to do an art thing instead of the sport thing, then that school will be a better option for the OP. And its also why I dont believe that a candidate can figure this out by speaking to the administration - of course they will be told that everything can be accommodated, since thats the legal thing.</p>

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<p>We visited 14 schools and read websites for a handful more. Although all the schools touted after-school sports, closer questioning and reading taught us that, with only a few exceptions, there were almost always alternatives to playing sports after school (e.g. theater or community service). As mhmm noted, teamwork is a big part of the reason for sports requirements; in our experience most schools considered theater or some form of structured, group community service to fulfill that mission. That said, for students not on teams, there would usually be a PE requirement of some sort. </p>

<p>@trenary, since you said that your young relative could, in fact, participate in some sports, I wouldn’t be too concerned with sports requirements. Rather, you may consider, if this young student doesn’t consider herself a “jock” per se (being on crutches and being a jock are not mutually exclusive), than, in addition to looking for a school with a compact campus, seriously consider the school’s atmosphere. There’s a big difference between the concept of “mens sana in corpore sano” and being a jock school.</p>

<p>One reason to consider a compact campus will be time permitted to get to classes. Most of the schools we visited allowed 5 minutes to get from class to class. I’d imagine your young relative is pretty handy getting around on crutches by now, considering she can also do some sports (has she considered crew, btw? A mostly upper-body sport, and big in the boarding school world). But if she needs an elevator or stair-lift for upstairs classes, it may add to her “commute time” because these accommodations are often not centrally located in older buildings.</p>

<p>That said, if she can ride a bike or balance on a scooter, these are popular ways to get around campus, at least as long as the paths are cleared. At my dc’s school, which is fairly compact, kick scooters are the preferred form of transport, for their ease of storage and hop-on, hop-off convenience.</p>

<p>Good luck in your search!</p>

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<p>Thank you for all the thoughtful replies, which I’ve shared with my young relative. With some guidance from parents and other adults, the student has identified a preliminary list of several schools that are of interest and that appear might work as far as accessibility is concerned, and they will be working up an inquiry email as a poster here suggested. Then we’ll see.</p>

<p>We’re very glad that the kid has the confidence to think of doing this at this age and in these circumstances, especially since no family members have attended boarding school before. Potentially, it could open up academic, extracurricular and social opportunities and a degree of independence that school options locally can’t offer. All that might be especially important to help the student compensate for the disadvantages, real or that might be perceived by others, as a result of the disability in the future. On the other hand, compact campuses and icy hills in winter are indeed concerns, among other things. Some stairs are doable, and the student doesn’t object to being required to do some sort of physical education/athletics as able, as long as it’s understood, as one poster put it here, that it’s not going to be competitive lacrosse or most other types of interscholastic teams against other students without mobility disabilities. As a prospective first-time boarding school family though, I think the overall impression we get from the boarding students and alumni we know is that most schools have a jock culture, in which case, as one person said here, my relative would be the only one not on the team bus every week, and missing out on certain parts of the experience.</p>

<p>Aside from the usual issues of sending a young teen away from home, the parents are concerned, without trying to discourage the kid too soon, that even assuming the best of intentions to accommodate on the part of whatever school, and their child’s very adaptable nature-- we all realize nothing will be absolutely perfect-- it’s 9 months of the year 24/7 in what is supposed to be a second home. It could also be a miserable and expensive experience. The kid wants an education and a teenage life, not to have to be the token disabled student or trailblazer every second of every day. In the present local school, the student is known, and while there are some situations to deal with on occasion, it’s not constant and around the clock. The flip side of that is that the student is getting bored by the familiar and wants broader horizons, which is fair enough, but a difficult balance.</p>

<p>That’s why I was hoping there were some schools that were known among families here to have at least a bit of recent experience accommodating someone’s child or someone’s child’s classmate with mobility needs. On school websites and materials, despite many of them having very prominent diversity/inclusion/non-discrimination statements, disability is usually conspicuously absent, and if accommodation is mentioned, it’s usually in the context of learning disabilities/differences, which my young relative does not have. The few schools encountered with explicit mention of disability accommodation in general are not ones that, at first glance, fit my young relative’s other desires-- small to medium size, academic but relatively casual school with strong humanities and arts, not overwhelmingly athletic culture, and a few other things. I hope that at least a few will seriously consider this kid, who has quite a lot to offer, crutches aside.</p>

<p>If anyone has any further feedback, positive or negative, or suggestions or warnings about specific schools, all of it is much appreciated. Thank you.</p>