March 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 28

L AW R EV I EW

The federal district
court discussed
threats that
prompted exclusion
of an individual with
intellectual disabilities
from continued
participation from
a public recreation
program in New
Hampshire.

Day Camp Suspension for
Disabled Participant's Threats
By James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

I

n the following highlighted case, the threats that prompted exclusion of an individual with intellectual disabilities (ID) from
continued participation in a public recreation program were not
necessarily real nor imminent when considered in context. Moreover, in the opinion of the federal district court: " This dispute ought
to have been resolved short of litigation. " Further, the court found:
" Plaintiffs' basic social complaint is not an unreasonable one. " As
characterized by the court, Plaintiffs' lawsuit described " what could
well be governmental action based not on legitimate safety concerns,
but rather on discriminatory stereotypes rooted in unfounded assumptions about cognitive disabilities. "

An Unhappy ID Camper	
In the case of Angelika P. v. Town of
Meredith, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
181738 (Dist. N.H., 10/1/2020),
Plaintiff N.P. lives with his
mother and guardian, Plaintiff
Angelika P., in Meredith, New
Hampshire. N.P. has intellectual
28	 Parks & Recreation

disabilities. On recent cognitive
functioning tests, N.P. scored
below the first percentile, which
placed him in the extremely low
range for verbal comprehension,
and, with respect to nonverbal intelligence, he scored in the " very
poor " range compared to other

| M A R C H 2 02 1 | PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N .O R G

students his age. N.P. tested in the
" very low to severe range " of language functioning. At the time of
the events giving rise to this action, N.P. was 20 years old.
N.P. had attended day camps offered by the defendant Town of Meredith (the Town) during summers
and school vacations since 2015.
The Meredith Parks and Recreation
Department runs the day camps,
and activities are conducted at the
Town's Recreation Center. In 2019,
the summer camp ran from June 25,
2019 through August 16, 2019.
On August 6, 2019, a day camper reported that N.P. had made
comments threatening camp
staff. The Town asserted that the
camper reported that N.P. threat-



March 2021 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2021 - Parks & Recreation

March 2021 - Parks & Recreation - Cover1
March 2021 - Parks & Recreation - Cover2
March 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 1
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March 2021 - Parks & Recreation - Cover3
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https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2021
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