With summer right around the corner, it is time for many parents to start signing up their children for summer camp.  For most, enrolling children in camp usually is a smooth and uneventful process requiring the completion of an application form.  For parents of children with disabilities, however, admission into summer camp can sometimes be a difficult and complicated process if a child requires accommodations in order to attend and participate in a camp program.

As camps and other summer programs begin preparing for the onset of summer, now is a good time to be reminded of obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) which require entities, such as summer camps, to provide accommodations to children with disabilities seeking to enroll and participate in their programs.  Summer camps, like many other public and private entities, are subject to the ADA’s requirements.  Compliance with the ADA is enforced by the U.S. Department of Justice (the “DOJ”).  The hallmark requirement of the ADA is the obligation to provide “reasonable accommodations” to covered individuals.  A reasonable accommodation is one that does not fundamentally alter the nature of the program or services provided by the camp or which does not otherwise cause an undue burden on the program.  What constitutes an “undue burden” depends on a number of factors; however, it is critical that camps engage in a thoughtful and individualized decision-making process to determine whether a particular child’s needs may be accommodated before summarily dismissing certain applicants from consideration for enrollment.

Summer camps are not obligated to enroll children who are not otherwise qualified to participate in a camp program, even with a reasonable accommodation.  For instance, a child with a disability that prevents the child from playing basketball need not be admitted to a basketball camp.  Still, summer camps must be careful not to impose nonessential eligibility criteria that screens out or tends to screen out children with disabilities and must also ensure that the programs meet all architectural standards for physical accessibility.

A recent article published in the Hartford Courant highlights the difficulties faced by some parents of children with disabilities when seeking to find summer camps for their children, and recent enforcement efforts to ensure campus are ADA compliant.  By way of example, the article tells the story of a child with diabetes who was told by a camp that it could not accommodate the child as it did not have a nurse on staff and was unwilling to hire one.  In that case, the camp was faulted for failing to consider if there were alternatives to hiring a nurse that might have permitted the child to attend, and the camp was required to provide training for staff members prior to the start of camp on how to follow the child’s  treatment plan so that he could participate in the program.
Continue Reading Summer Camp Crackdown: DOJ Enforcement under the ADA