A teenager with cerebral palsy and spastic dysplasia is suing the Los Angeles Unified School District for allegedly discriminating against him, by failing to offer him accessible transportation when he attended Carson High School, according to KCBS-TV.
The lawsuit was filed by Edward Martinez, 18, under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. Martinez, who is wheelchair-bound, claims that he was repeatedly left at the curb while teachers and other students traveled on an disabled-inaccessible bus to activities such as baseball games, field trips and Grad Night at Disneyland, KCBS-TV reported.
The youth said he was so frustrated by always being left behind that he had teachers and students take him out of his wheelchair and carry him on and off the bus for the Disneyland Grad trip, an experience he described as “humiliating.”
Martinez also alleges that he was forced to stay in the high school library while his math class met for two weeks in an upstairs room, according to KCBS-TV.
Martinez previously sued the school district on a disability issue, but that case was settled. But KCBS-TV said that under that settlement, the district agreed to train staff and get vehicles that capable of transporting the disabled.
It doesn’t seem like that worked out too well.
