Wow! $$1.7 M Win in disability lawsuit!

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03 Dec 2008, 1:23 pm

Hope that the tide is turning, that discrimination will have consequences!

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/ ... SECTION=US
Dec 2, 9:22 PM EST, by Ed White, AP writer

Dropped dental student bites back with $1.7M award

DETROIT (AP) -- A federal jury awarded more than $1.7 million Tuesday to a former University of Michigan dental student who said she was illegally kicked out of school after she became ensnared in a feud between a dean and faculty members.

The jury said Alissa Zwick's due-process rights were violated when she was dismissed in 2005 after her third year. She had a B average but was told she wasn't performing well in clinical classes.

Zwick claimed she became a target when two professors resisted efforts to accommodate her attention-deficit disorder by giving exams in a separate setting.

An associate dean, Dr. Marilyn Lantz, had a conflict with the professors and used the dispute with Zwick as part of her successful effort to force them out of their positions, the lawsuit said.

But the professors' resignations created a controversy, and Lantz then tried to deflect responsibility for their departure onto Zwick, the lawsuit said.

Lantz warned Zwick not to discuss the matter with other students and then targeted her for "less favorable treatment" than her classmates when Zwick refused to be silenced, the suit said.

"I was used as a tool or pawn by Dr. Lantz," Zwick, 30, said after the verdict.

The dental school has an appeals process for students who are recommended for dismissal, but Zwick's ouster was "rubber-stamped," her attorney Deborah Gordon said.

"Once you're admitted to a public school, you have a property interest," Gordon said. "You can't be dismissed without due process. The jury found the decision was not careful or deliberate."

A message seeking comment was left at Lantz's office. The university said it was disappointed with the verdict.

The school has a responsibility "to exercise careful and deliberate judgment about who should be permitted to graduate from its professional schools," spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said in a statement.

Lantz was the main defendant, but Gordon expects the university to pay the award. The $1.72 million verdict includes $1 million in punitive damages.

Zwick is pursuing a master's degree in speech pathology at Eastern Michigan University. She was accepted to eight dental schools before choosing Michigan but couldn't get into another after her dismissal.



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03 Dec 2008, 1:25 pm

This is awesomely wonderful news! There is far too much discrimination against ppl with disabilities. The fact is, so many ppl now have some type of disability yet so many gifts to give society if they are accommodated in very simple inexpensive ways.

Often disability is seen as weakness and authorities will indeed frame or scapegoat or manipulate or discriminate viciously against anybody perceived as "different."

Soon this injustice will be stamped out. Yea!

Abusers always try to silence their victim -- never be silent!



Callista
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03 Dec 2008, 1:26 pm

Well, looks like she'll be able to pay her school loans now! :P


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MizLiz
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03 Dec 2008, 1:54 pm

This is incredibly relevant for me to know. Just today in fact, I was thinking about suing my school.

Well... *I* was only thinking about it. One of my doctors flat out suggested it. Good link. Thanks.

It's pretty much the same as with her. They don't make accomodations for disabilities unless they're physical.



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03 Dec 2008, 1:57 pm

You know, I'm so sick of NTs trying to frame me for whatever hangups they have ... it is so tempting to set them up for a huge lawsuit ... they would not be able to stop themselves from blatantly cruelly discriminating and ganging up on a "different" type person where I work(ed).

Oh so tempting, so potentially deliciously just. All I would have to do is wear recording spy equipment to have proof. They are so ignorant they brag about their meanness to anybody "different" ... oh the temptation, the amount of $$$$$$$$ possible, the doors that would open to gain skills to bypass this type of cruel hellish employment ...

Yes, my detailed mind will have no executive trouble planning this sweet revenge that is oh so ripe and ready for execution. Let their hideous behavior nail their own coffin!



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03 Dec 2008, 2:01 pm

Aspergers is physically based! It's neurological. It can be seen in brain scans. So many laws now state we have to be accommodated and treated if we request! New ADA laws and Parity laws coming into effect in just a month, January 1, 2009!

GO FOR IT! We deserve the opportunity to live life and make the most of ourselves and be allowed to contribute to society!



MizLiz
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03 Dec 2008, 2:09 pm

They see it as not physical if they can't...

Well... see it.

So basically:

No wheelchair? No white tipped cane? No hearing aid?

Well then you're faking.

Hell, I had to get a bracelet just to prove I'm epileptic.



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03 Dec 2008, 2:16 pm

MizLiz, you can add these bad attitudes of theirs to your lawsuit. Be sure and document their attitudes. Keep a dated log. Record all conversations, emails, letters they send you. They are in violation of the ADA.

The bitchier they are the more you can sue for :)