Bronx teacher wins ADA suit against DOE
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
Despite a litany of physical
limitations — a life diagnosed
with spinal muscular
atrophy (SMA) that has left
her wheelchair-bound and
unable to walk and bathe herself
— Dayniah Manderson
has excelled as an English
teacher in New York City.
“The best thing about
teaching is the kids, and being
able to see how much they
grow and process over the
school years,” said Manderson,
who has an 18-year tenure
with the New York City
Department of Education
(DOE). “But there is a culture
in which teachers and
the students are not being
treated fairly by the Department
of Education.”
For eight years, Manderson
had to forgo using a restroom
for 12 hours or more
on most days because her
school building — the Mott
Hall Community School in
Throggs Neck — didn’t have
ADA-compliant facilities provided
by the DOE.
“It’s a basic human right,
and it’s dehumanizing when
you are not able to use a bathroom
at your place of employment,”
Manderson, 41, told
the Bronx Times. “It’s a systemic
failure and there were
situations where I didn’t feel
like I was being treated like a
human.”
In March, Manderson
fi led a discrimination charge
with the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, alleging
the DOE failed to build
her an accessible bathroom
for the 12 years she worked at
Mott Hall in violation of the
Americans with Disabilities
Act.
Per the court-sanctioned
judgment, the DOE is now ordered
to provide seat risers
enabling Manderson to use
the restroom safely at work.
The DOE also needs to repair
the restroom’s automatic
door opener and ensure that
Manderson has access to an
“unobstructed and secure”
evacuation space in the event
of an emergency, and to train
DOE staff regarding maintaining
this clear path of
travel, according to an offer
of judgment approved by the
Federal District Court for
the Southern District of New
York last week.
“I think that there should
be at least a standard format
(of accommodation) that
needs to be met, and it depends
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on what it looks like to
accommodate me in the event
of a fi re and having a safe
way to escape besides using
the stairs or being in a combustible
area,” Manderson
said.
Manderson said that her
experience is a symptom
of larger systemic barriers
within the city Department
of Education.
A 2018 analysis of city data
by the group Advocates for
Children found more than
80% of the city’s roughly 1,800
public school buildings were
at least partially inaccessible
— meaning classrooms, hallways
and bathrooms are out
of reach for those who need it.
In the latest building accessibility
report conducted
on DOE buildings in September,
more than 35 Bronx
school buildings scored a “1”
in terms of meeting ADAcompliance.
In 2020, former
Schools Chancellor Richard
Carranza pledged to make
half of all public schools partially
accessible by 2024, but
COVID-19 put a halt to those
plans.
Manderson said it was
“dehumanizing” not having
a restroom that could accommodate
the size of her wheelchair,
and that a request for a
bathroom renovation in 2018
was unmet by DOE offi cials.
“The chain of command
ultimately failed because (my
supervisors and their supervisors)
are all working for the
same organization,” she said.
“I think that’s kind of why
you have to try and link with
other agencies and organizations
who do the work in combating
discrimination, because
the organization that
you work for is only going to
protect themselves.”
DOE offi cials eventually
expanded a stall in a restroom
near Manderson’s
classroom so that her wheelchair
could fi t, but the toilet
seat was still too low to the
ground, making it impossible
for Manderson to safely
transfer from her wheelchair.
In response, school construction
offi cials placed a
plastic booster on top of the
toilet seat. But the plastic seat
“is not in a fi xed position, can
shift during transfer, and
places me at risk of falling,”
Manderson alleged in her initial
complaint.
In addition to not being
able to access the restrooms,
the evacuation room that
Manderson needed in the
event of a fi re emergency was
clogged with school supplies,
according to complaint. Additionally,
the court also orders
Manderson’s student to write
in online journals so that she
does not have to physically
carry up to 90 journals home
from work, a request which
the DOE had refused prior.
“Small steps are key to
lasting change,” she said.
Correcting the oppressive
systems within public education
doesn’t happen at the
snap of a fi nger, but this judgment
is a step in the right direction.”
Dayniah Manderson, a wheelchair-bound English teacher in New York City, recently won a discrimination case
against the city Department of Education. Photo courtesy Dayniah Manderson
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