Every kid has strong feelings about the end of summer and going back to school. Some love seeing teachers and friends and can’t wait to roll up their sleeves and attack the course work, while others feel – shall we say – just a little different about the whole experience. Needless to say, if you’re the parent of a child with special dietary needs associated with celiac disease, you too might be feeling a little excited or stressed about sending your child back to school.

Thanks to the growing influence of the Web, more information than ever is now available to help parents understand their child’s rights when it comes to schools making accommodations for students with food allergies and intolerances.

To begin with, it’s important to know that according to the U.S. government, public schools are not necessarily required to make an accommodation for children with celiac disease, and if a school does choose to make accommodation, the gluten-free substitution does not need to be identical to that of the non-gluten-free option.

Taking a step backward for a moment, in 1973, the United States Congress passed Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of physical or mental disability and states:

No otherwise qualified individual with handicaps … shall, solely by reason of her or his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance…

To be protected under Section 504, a child must have a disability that is defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; has a record of such an impairment; and, is regarded as having such an impairment.

Sadly, celiac disease by itself does not qualify a student for special accommodations, even under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

In 1990, Congress passed the Americans with Disability act. Title II of the Act requires equal availability and accessibility in state and local government programs and services, including public schools. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture oversees school lunch programs and requires public school systems to provide substitutions for “qualified disabled students” whose disability restricts their diet, but since many school systems are set up to follow the qualifications associated with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, celiac disease — because it isn’t defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities — rarely qualifies for special accommodations.

It seems for now at least, parents of children with celiac disease must be extremely strong and vocal advocates for their kids. To learn more about what you can do to help your child and their school navigate the myriad of issues associated with celiac disease and back to school, visit the Celiac Sprue Association’s Getting Along at School web page.