Posted on 05/03/2013 6:45:33 PM PDT by TurboZamboni
Lesley University is not nearly so isolated, but it has the same mandatory policy about its student cafeteria. There was a problem however. Several students had Celiac disease. They needed to eat gluten free in order to not get sick.
So naturally they told the college and the college allowed them an exception to the mandatory cafeteria plan, letting them keep the money and use it to buy gluten-free food off campus. Right?
No, the students sued the college to mandate that the college accommodate them. I don’t feel sorry for Lesley because, frankly, I still bear a grudge against all colleges that use this business model so that students are forced to pay for services they don’t want on condition of being a student. (Of course, that was the organization’s choice. I never dreamed of suing over it.) Now it has turned into a big expense because the only way to provide economical food is to be able to buy in bulk and mass produce the meals. That is no longer possible. Lesley University did not even fight for their right to determine what food they will provide. They caved and made the following concessions:
(Excerpt) Read more at lastresistance.com ...
One of my niche marketing ideas is to work up a “breads of the world” or “great breads of history” sampler. Corn, wheat, and rice account for 85%-plus of the grain grown in the world today. There are good reasons for this having to do with taste, nutritional value, ease of preparation, etc., but there are many alternatives. I have a friend with celiac disease who is especially proud of her sorghum chocolate cake. Apparently it’s hard to make sorghum taste good, although nutritionally it’s a great food.
The Wiki says only 1/105 have the antibodies amongst blood donors. The blood tests are fairly sensitive, but not as specific. As with other immune mediated diseases not everyone who has the antibodies has clinical disease. Wiki cites 1/400 to 1/2000 for an incidence of worked up and proven cases. The gluten allergy can manifest with GI symptoms including those from secondary malnutrition, or with the extremely itchy skin rash, Dermatitis Herpetiformis. I believe GI problems are the more common and to have both is relatively uncommon.
I'm a Dermatologist and well aware of the latter. Untreated it's as itchy a skin rash as there is; it isn't ignorable. Those affected will keep seeking help until diagnosed and treated properly which likely will require a Dermatologist. Supposedly the upper midwest, where I practice, has the highest incidence, yet less than 1/1400 of my patients have the diagnosis. The rate of DH in the general population must be much smaller. Oddly their skin disease most often is NOT treated with a gluten free diet. Medical therapy with Dapsone is inexpensive, highly effective, fairly safe and miraculously quick to control DH, although it, alas, has no effect on GI disease. Dapsone treatment is usually lifelong. Those few with both GI and skin symptoms need the gluten free diet in addition. The diet works for the skin, but requires a couple years of tight adherence with diet mono-therapy to clear it so most prefer the Dapsone.
Here’s the problem with these ‘feel good compassionate’ laws that are so popular.
And it addresses your thoughts too.
They are written very vaguely wriien using terms like ‘reasonable’ that puts the power in the hands of the judges and invites endless lawsuits on businesses like this.
But they are popular sounding compassionate.
Like Obama’s use of ‘fair’.
GHWB and Bob Dole.
I dislike the idea of mandatory meal tickets. I completely understand why a small college might, for financial reasons, implement mandatory meal tickets. But from the standpoint of having to pay for something I’d n ever, at this point use, it really isn’t fair.
What’s next, being left handed? ADA - turning America into the disability/entitlement rights nation and expecting our private sector businesses to pay for all these rules/rights.
But this lawsuit is a great reason to get rid of it,
Gluten is NOT a poison. Poisons harm everyone given sufficient doses. The vast majority of folks thrive on gluten. In celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis genetically susceptible people’s immune systems malfunction and make antibodies to it that happen to cross react with some of their normal proteins resulting in autoimmune complications. I wouldn’t legally blame the gluten. I’d legally blame their own, confused immune systems. And don’t give up on bread, pizza, etc and all the joys of a normal diet without solid proof, which IMHO for GI only symptoms means a biopsy.
Everybody should jump on the SSDI gravy train. I hear it usually takes two tries (”applications”) but everybody eventually gets approved. Anyway, there’s plenty of sleazebag lawyers who know the ropes and can offer assistance. For a percentage. Why let the moocher base of the Democrat party gobble up what’s left of our grandchildren’s future?
The college I went to on campus housing was mandatory for first 3 years. Only seniors got the choice of housing. The meal card was just a ‘cost of living’. I seldom used mine. The food was really gross.
They went along with ADA, but its main driver was Dungheap Harkin.
Did some programming work for an ADA rep that inspected restaurants a while back. I was completely astounded by the pettiness of some of the regulations and the large settlements in lieu of a fine - looked like few businesses would fight them - they collected.
The kind of wheat used most of the time is more like a noxious weed (for everybody, not just sensitive people) than the wholesome grain your grandma used to make bread. Bred and re-bred into a large-headed dwarf wheat to feed the world, it was not tested by any authority to determine what its side-effects could be in humans.
Lord knows, I loves me them wheat products, but I rarely eat the stuff. The results show in weight loss, less hay fever and less arthritis.
Does the Dapsone reduce the oxygen transport capability of the blood? I have been thinking of going on it but I like to run as well and would hate to lose even a single point of VO2max.
Combined with abstinence from dairy, a wheat-free diet has reduced my acne problems as well.
Another thought on ‘reasonable’
Suppost the court rules the college has to offed gluten free meals.
Whose to say what a ‘meal’ is?
The court wont.
So the college offers a cheap gluten free meal that is a joke. Like a slab of Tufu with a garnish on it.
OH, and they make 5 of them a day.
Yeah. These kids are being used. u. s. e. d.
I can’t imagine the foul food that would be provided if you forced the caf to feed you something they really didn’t want to feed you.
*shudder*
And what about the shellfish allergies. And peanut allergies. And other food allergies requiring sufferers to carry around epipens.
Why not just let people provide their own food? Dunno.
In this case I see the college just went along screwing the students.
But I bet they dont care about it. You know young people these days, they voted for Obama twice.
Till you get it, it may seem like no big deal and it is people just looking for pity. If I had to buy the meal ticket I know I would never use it. To much risk of some one accidentally fluffing flour into the air when making some one elses meal for me to risk it. That is all it takes for me to ache for 2 days and sleep for hours. Nothing like your hands feeling like they are on fire to make you change your habits.
To the guy above who questioned why this was not diagnosed much before has to just just look at my family history. It is a genetic disease and my grandfather died at 42, one uncle at 39 and another at 48. Before I was born quite a bit of my relative where dead. Just because it is not diagnosed does not mean it was not there.
GHWB and Bob Dole were big on AWDA and took credit for it and Bush signed it.
I rremember GHWB claiming that it was Martha’s mission to get it passed, that old bag.
And Dole is always pushing disability rights stuff.
They didnt just ‘go along’
> cook from scratch at home. It’s the only way I’ve been able to completely eliminate my eczema. I took meds for years for that. It’s finally gone. No meds in 2 years.<
My 23 year old daughter just got diagnosed with food allergies. She had eczema as a toddler, but has recently been breaking out in hives. She’s allergic to peanuts, almonds and to beef, of all things. She is on a regimen of anti-histamines to calm the hives. She’s being careful and hasn’t had a breakout since she found out the causes.
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