<p>The thing that gets me, is that some believe that IF someone asks for help in reducing exposure risk, they are totally being irresponsible and not taking care of their issues.
Severely allergic folks are well versed, in our experience, at being accountable. It’s a matter of survival.</p>
<p>
Right. It’s not either/or, it’s both. I really find unpalatable the idea that if it’s impossible to entirely eliminate the risk and guarantee that there will never be any exposure, that this leads to a conclusion that one needn’t do anything. That’s unneighborly, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Thank you, Hunt. You articulated it very nicely. It’s letting the perfect be the enemy of the good here.</p>
<p>Apropos of this, a client of mine just emailed me - we were supposed to work together this week - and she went into severe anaphylactic shock over the weekend, was in the hospital and is recovering but it will take several days. I knew she had a nut allergy, as I’ve sat with her in restaurants where she’s been very specific about asking the waiter about what was in the food. She came to our offices a few months ago, and we ensured we had no nuts in the area where she was going to be and in the food options that she was choosing from. I know she was appreciative. That’s the normal way to be. Not this “well, I can’t make it PERFECT, so why bother” attitude.</p>
<p>Of course, you’d make it perfect! She’s your client! </p>
<p>In all seriousness, you made an area suitable for her. That’s the equivalent of making one dining hall peanut free. Bada bing. Bada boom.</p>
<p>^ Swarthmore only has one dining hall.</p>
<p>Make an area of the dining hall peanut free. Bada bing. Bada boom.</p>
<p>Niquii’s “solution” will not do much in the way of providing much real relief for severe allergy sufferers, as the cross contamination risk is too high for most to overlook. If the kitchen isnt safe/nut free, IMO there is not much point in having a nut free seating “area.” But, for those who choose to live on the edge, or for those whose allergies are not (yet?!) life threatening, this is a step in the right direction.</p>
<p>[The</a> Phoenix | Allergic to Swarthmore?](<a href=“http://www.swarthmorephoenix.com/college-reviews-allergy-policies/]The”>http://www.swarthmorephoenix.com/college-reviews-allergy-policies/)</p>
<p>
[quote]
In the wake of this decision, schools and colleges all over the country are discussing and re-considering their food distribution processes, and Swarthmore is no exception. Noah Weinthal 15, who is highly allergic to peanuts and peanut products, has been spearheading reform in Sharples, as well as in the Kohlberg and Science center cafes. Weinthal came across posters in Sharples, noting that that cafeteria used various allergens in their kitchens and that cross contamination could occur. During a meal at Sharples, finding a supposedly washed mug covered with a streak of peanut butter was, for him, the final straw.
I get that nothing is ever 100 percent safe, said Weinthal. But in the past Sharples has mislabeled ingredients in certain foods like pad Thai, which does contain peanuts. Theres sesame oil in a lot of foods too and some people are allergic to that. Whole wheat pasta has been labeled as gluten free, but anyone with Celiac disease knows theres a major distinction between the two.<a href=“…”>/quote</a>
</p>
<p>Here’s what you do. Have a nut free kitchen area AND nut free eating area. Bada bing. Bada boom.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I thought this was one of the big problems.</p>
<p>
Well, it depends on what “near” means, and also on how good a job they do in educating people not to cross-contaminate. It’s certainly better than doing nothing.</p>
<p>The Swarthmore newspaper article was published last February. It’s quite possible the plan to set up a separate table didn’t pan out. Perhaps space is tight, or it blocks an exit. </p>
<p>I would worry about peanut butter remaining on a freshly-washed glass, or mislabeling allergens on the menu. No matter how careful a student is in food choices, if bits of peanuts are present on serving utensils, or in supposedly nut-free foods, it’s a true danger. I presume replacing the industrial dishwasher would be expensive. </p>
<p>The Department of Justice’s official documents announcing the settlement with Lesley University do state other colleges may use the settlement as a model. Thus, the colleges are required to provide allergic students with similarly nutritious meals to non-allergic students. It would be easier to do this with two dining halls. One dining hall, with all students required to eat in that space, is the most difficult set up.</p>
<p>But again, given that no one has brought up a single case of a student dying or even suffering a severe allergic response in a college dining hall, what is the justification for a total ban in a college’s single available cafeteria? Is it required by the Lesley settlement? I’d suggest not.
Reasonable accommodation does not mean “doing precisely what the severely peanut allergic student wants to reduce what, in an allergy-sensitive dining hall, is already a very small risk.” </p>
<p>That being said, if Swat still has peanut-butter available, the idea of cooking with peanut substitutes makes perfect sense to me.</p>
<p>deaths:</p>
<p>[Sabrina?s</a> Law: The Girl and the Allergy Law | Allergic Living](<a href=“http://allergicliving.com/index.php/2010/07/02/sabrinas-law-the-girl-and-the-allergy-law/?page=1]Sabrina?s”>http://allergicliving.com/index.php/2010/07/02/sabrinas-law-the-girl-and-the-allergy-law/?page=1)</p>
<p>milk allergy, probable cross-contamination on serving tongs</p>
<p>[Shell</a> shock | From the Guardian | The Guardian](<a href=“http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/jun/24/weekend7.weekend1]Shell”>Shell shock | | The Guardian)</p>
<p>died after formal dinner, probably due to nuts in pastry. Death first ascribed to asthma.</p>
<p>[When</a> Food Can Kill | University Business Magazine](<a href=“http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/when-food-can-kill]When”>http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/when-food-can-kill)</p>
<p>milk allergy</p>
<p>From the last article:</p>
<p>“The tragedy likely could have been avoided, says Christopher Weiss, VP of advocacy and government relations at FAAN, The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network. Young adults are at the highest risk group of a fatal allergic reactionlargely because they exhibit risky behavior, such as leaving home without their epinephrine, or eating foods that they are not completely sure about, he says”</p>
<p>Even the VP of an ANAPHYLAXIS advocacy group placed responsibility on the PA sufferer and not the school.</p>
<p>The other articles have the same root causes.</p>
<p>My daughter wound up in the ER thanks to a contaminated bagel on campus, as I have twice mentioned.</p>
<p>That awkward moment when you don’t remember that ever being mentioned.</p>
<p>Apprenticeprof, you can be guaranteed that a student has suffered a serious allergic reaction at a campus dining hall. These occurrences are so common unless special precautions are taken by the dining hall. And even then, they are minimized but not eliminated.</p>
<p>In every single one of the cases cited above, the response occurred because the allergy sufferer ate something that he or she did not prepare in a safe kitchen. The ONLY way I would feel comfortable with my child going away to college with a serious allergy would be if he or she agreed to not eat any food that was not either 1) packaged and clearly labeled as nut-free or 2) prepared in his or her apartment and brought into the dining hall. And yes, we have had the discussion about whether that would take away from the chance to have a true residential college experience. I’m sorry, but I would rather have my child alive after four years of college. Anyone with a disability “misses out” on things, unfortunately. It’s just the way it is.</p>
<p>But the question remains, whose responsibility is it to prevent this - the school, or the student? I think the school has the obligation to </p>
<p>a) do everything possible to minimize the student’s risk in the dining hall short of depriving every other student in the college’s lone cafeteria of a basic dietary staple. This includes setting aside peanut-free tables, clearly labeling ingredients (if a food service can’t do this accurately, they deserve a lawsuit), and even, perhaps, cooking only with peanut substitutes.
b)offer affected students the option of opting out of the dining hall and having their own kitchens for the same price they would be paying to live in any other dorm room.</p>
<p>This leaves the severely allergic with the following options:</p>
<ol>
<li>Go to one of the vast majority of schools in which the presence of multiple dining halls means asking for a totally peanut free option is reasonable.</li>
<li>Go to a school with only one dining hall and use that dining hall, accepting the very small risk that even a combination of their own and the college’s precautions will not prevent a deadly reaction.</li>
<li>Go to a school with only one dining hall, decide that the risk of eating in that hall is too high, and request the accommodation of a private kitchen. </li>
</ol>
<p>Failing to provide precisely the accommodation requested, when reasonable alternatives are available and when doing so interferes with other interests of the school, is not remotely the same as denying access.</p>