The dog of a student with autism prohibited at school: they are claiming$ 75,000 to the school board

Photo Dominique Lelièvre
Michel Labonté hopes that his son Thomas could go to school with Mika, his service dog. It accuses the school Board of the Capital to impose conditions that are “discriminatory” to do this.

Dominique Lelièvre

Thursday, 19 October 2017 19:16

UPDATE
Thursday, 19 October 2017 19:24

Look at this article

The parents of a student with autism to claim 75 000 $ to the Commission scolaire de la Capitale for “administrative procedures outrageuses” and “discriminatory” which would have deprived their son of his dog Mika at school.

Disorder of the autism spectrum, Thomas Otis Labonté, 14 years old, can rely on his assistant Mika for the past four years to reduce problems of stress and anxiety, promote socialization, and increase its autonomy.

Last February, her father deems that the time has come for the dog to accompany his son to school, which was not the case up until then. Thomas must make his entry in the first school at the secondary school of Neufchatel.

“Magnet socialization “

In addition to bring him to the confidence, the animal is a ” magnet to socialization “, illustrates Michel Labonté. “This is the time that the shutter socialization develops because I don’t want to have a little guy isolated in 21, 22 years. I want that socially he fits in “, he explains.

According to him, the school Board has already welcomed dogs Mira in some of its institutions.

For its part, the Mira Foundation offers the service of assistance dog for children with autism since 2003.

Months of waiting

The parents make a request for accommodation six months before the new school year in September. Despite their efforts, Mika still has not walked on the floor of the school.

The father alleges that the school Board have been slow to respond to him, and then to have formulated requirements that it deems unreasonable. He would have asked for a transportation plan that would have restricted the movement of Thomas in the school, a ” purely discriminatory “, is it mentioned in the petition filed in the superior Court.

In the document, we learn that the school board has raised concerns relative to the ” potential health problems in the school environment “. It was impossible, yesterday afternoon, to collect the comments of the institution.

The parents, who are not at their first time in trouble with the school board, demanding $ 75,000 for “the infringement […] of its fundamental rights,” and requested an injunction for the dog Mika is able to integrate the school as quickly as possible.

In December 2015, they had filed a lawsuit against the school Board for failing to transfer Thomas in a class suited to the primary school.