Deaf medical student's fight against a medical school: Argenyi v. Creighton University

You may have heard of this case that began in 2009: Argenyi v. Creighton University, 703 F.3d 441 (8th Cir. 2013).

The Federal District Court finally made a judgment back on December 19, 2013. You can read the summary of his case here.

Michael Argenyi was a medical student at Creighton University Medical School in Nebraska. He has profound hearing loss and he claims the school was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act because it did not provide him with interpreters and a real time captioning service known as CART.

Here is a video demonstrating CART in the operating room:

Medical Students with Disabilities on Facebook

There is a Facebook page for medical students with disabilities and you can find it here. It appears that the page was last updated in 2011, so we hope that the administrators of the page will start posting on the page again.

Medical students with learning disabilities

Recently, we've had the opportunity to communicate with a number of medical students who have learning disabilities. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about learning disabilities:

Learning disability (sometimes called a learning disorder or learning difficulty), is a classification including several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner, usually caused by an unknown factor or factors. The unknown factor is the disorder that affects the brain's ability to receive and process information. This disorder can make it problematic for a person to learn as quickly or in the same way as someone who is not affected by a learning disability. People with a learning disability have trouble performing specific types of skills or completing tasks if left to figure things out by themselves or if taught in conventional ways.

There are a number of different conditions that may impact one's learning ability. Here's another interesting point that's made in this article:

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often studied in connection with learning disabilities, but it is not actually included in the standard definitions of learning disabilities. An individual with ADHD may struggle with learning, but he or she can often learn adequately once successfully treated for the ADHD. A person can have ADHD but not learning disabilities or have learning disabilities without having ADHD. The conditions can co-occur.

Regardless of whether ADHD is included in the standard definitions of learning disabilities, it's important to provide students with the necessary resources and support to survive medical school.

High court opens the door for a disabled student to become a doctor

This story is from The Times of India (Mumbai)

HC orders admission of disabled boy to MBBS

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday came to the rescue of a 19-year-old disabled student aspiring to be a doctor. Rapping the state government for its casual approach towards the plight of disabled students, a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice S C Dharmadhikari directed the state to provide provisional admission to Kurla resident Tarique Khan in the MBBS course.

Three per cent of the seats are reserved for disabled candidates. As per guidelines issued by the Medical Council of India, physically challenged candidates with locomotory disability of lower limbs to the extent of 70 % are eligible for health science courses.

Read more here.

Medical students with disabilities

Here's some information from the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) about medical students who have disabilities:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has afforded new rights and protections to persons with disabilities and heightened public awareness of the needs of this population. This handbook (published in 1993) provides an overview of the ADA and the antecedent Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It is intended to assist medical schools in the review and refinement of institutional policies. It is not intended as a comprehensive treatment of all the issues that might arise under the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act, no is it intended to provide legal advice. Schools should consult legal counsel regarding any specific questions about particular situations or decisions.

The purpose of the ADA is to provide opportunities for persons with disabilities to compete with other applicants on the basis of their ability. Like the Rehabilitation Act, the ADA requires many entities—including medical schools—to provide certain accommodations to persons with disabilities so that they may enjoy the same benefits, services and opportunities as those without disabilities. Schools must judge persons on the basis of their ability to complete the educational program rather than on their status as disabled persons. Persons seeking admission must be able to perform the "essential functions" or meet the "essential eligibility requirements" of the program once they have been provided with any needed accommodation or modification. Each school must determine the "essential functions" or "essential eligibility requirements" of its educational program. Preadmission inquiry as to whether a person is disabled is not permitted, but a school may seek as much information as is needed to make a determination that an individual can perform the "essential functions" or meet the "essential eligibility requirements" of the educational program.

In 2005, the AAMC published an updated version of this document, Medical Students with Disabilities: A Generation of Practice, which includes a discussion of ADA-related case law generated since the early 1990s.

You can read the full document here (PDF)