{"id":288165,"date":"2025-06-11T14:36:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T14:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/activist\/the-ada-applies-to-mental-health-disabilities-too\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T14:36:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T14:36:40","slug":"the-ada-applies-to-mental-health-disabilities-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=288165","title":{"rendered":"The ADA Applies to Mental Health Disabilities, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/progressive.org\/downloads\/21872\/download\/HarvardUniversity.jpg?cb=36c3e79a2de28d7529855f284386cd19\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"content\" data-transition=\"content\" data-loop=\"false\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"lead\">The squatter currently occupying the White House isn\u2019t the only one involved in a legal tussle with Harvard University these days.<\/p>\n<p>On May 22, <a href=\"https:\/\/linktr.ee\/students4mhjustice?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAad6td51SYuHwy5BPnAiMzODdQ4DdO-nrgQIIP1yLgRX9-2Ft6I9IjmoBkdgsQ_aem_FzfkAN1UQ_Ioa4R3emGqYA\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Link opens in new window (Students 4 Mental Health Justice)\">Students 4 Mental Health Justice<\/a>, a student-led advocacy group composed mostly of Harvard students, filed a federal <a href=\"https:\/\/dralegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0001-Complaint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Link opens in new window (lawsuit)\">lawsuit<\/a> against Harvard alleging discriminatory practices against students with mental health disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to the complaint, Harvard \u201csystematically bans\u201d students who are experiencing mental health crises from campus, forces them to undergo \u201cburdensome requirements\u201d to return, and requires them to sign \u201ccoercive and onerous\u201d contracts under the threat of expulsion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHarvard responds to disability-related behavior with exclusion, blame, and draconian measures,\u201d the lawsuit states. \u201cBecause of Harvard\u2019s policies, current students report a chilling effect on seeking needed mental health supports for fear of being banned from campus and subjected to onerous requirements in order to return.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This, according to the lawsuit, violates several federal and state laws that are intended to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ada.gov\/resources\/disability-rights-guide\/#:~:text=An%20individual%20with%20a%20disability%20is,of%20the%20impairments%20that%20are%20covered.\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Link opens in new window (defines)\">defines<\/a> a disability as \u201ca \u00a0physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.\u201d Among the examples of major life activities listed by the U.S. Department of Justice are cognitive functions like thinking and concentrating, and tasks like working, reading, learning, and communicating.<\/p>\n<p>The ADA covers mental disabilities and activities that aren\u2019t essentially physical, making clear that those with conditions like depression need and deserve respect and accommodations just as much as people who use wheelchairs do. Those accommodations may take on different forms. A wheelchair user may need a ramp\u00a0 or an elevator, whereas someone with a psychiatric or mental disability may need a non-punitive leave of absence or access to confidential on-campus mental health treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit tells the stories of several Harvard students who sought professional help because they were having mental health episodes and were consequently banned from all campus property, losing their housing, on-campus employment, and academic schedules. To be reinstated, one student was required to show six months of continuous, full-time work verified by a supervisor as well as active mental health treatment (including detailed letters from healthcare providers about her progress)\u2014despite having lost her student health insurance while barred from campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Thus, the lawsuit contends, Harvard students who have mental health disabilities\u00a0 are caught in a \u201cdouble bind: either stay away from student mental health services and risk a mental health crisis, or utilize these services and risk being temporarily banned from campus and having their education seriously disrupted or be permanently kicked out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Disability rights laws like the ADA are supposed to prevent the exclusion of any individual with a disability\u2014this absolutely includes everyone who has a mental or psychiatric disability. What they often need the most is easy access to the resources, including professional mental health treatment, to help them get through a mental health crisis. That means that any barrier that discourages them from seeking out that help, for fear that they will fall victim to the stigma that surrounds having a mental health crisis, is illegal and has got to go.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The squatter currently occupying the White House isn\u2019t the only one involved in a legal tussle with Harvard University these days. On May 22, Students 4 Mental Health Justice, a student-led advocacy group composed mostly of Harvard students, filed a federal lawsuit against Harvard alleging discriminatory practices against students with mental health disabilities.\u00a0 According to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":288166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12022],"tags":[17807,17392,31977,19412,16930,597,31363,4850,12695,43278,43277],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-288165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activist","tag-ada","tag-applies","tag-disabilities","tag-discrimination","tag-dispatches","tag-health","tag-higher-education","tag-mental","tag-mental-health","tag-mike-ervin","tag-smart-ass-cripple"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The ADA Applies to Mental Health Disabilities, Too - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=288165\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The ADA Applies to Mental Health Disabilities, Too - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The squatter currently occupying the White House isn\u2019t the only one involved in a legal tussle with Harvard University these days. On May 22, Students 4 Mental Health Justice, a student-led advocacy group composed mostly of Harvard students, filed a federal lawsuit against Harvard alleging discriminatory practices against students with mental health disabilities.\u00a0 According to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=288165\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-11T14:36:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/HarvardUniversity.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"801\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=288165#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=288165\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34a251993513824056d80e6fd018db30\"},\"headline\":\"The ADA Applies to Mental Health Disabilities, Too\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-11T14:36:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=288165\"},\"wordCount\":528,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=288165#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/HarvardUniversity.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ADA\",\"Applies\",\"disabilities\",\"discrimination\",\"Dispatches\",\"Health\",\"higher education\",\"Mental\",\"Mental Health\",\"Mike Ervin\",\"Smart Ass Cripple\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Activist\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=288165#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=288165\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=288165\",\"name\":\"The ADA Applies to Mental Health Disabilities, Too - 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