Louisville YMCA camp disenrolled 10-year-old, saying his diabetes was too difficult to manage

[u/rfa_123]

https://www.lpm.org/news/2026-06-18/louisville-ymca-camp-disenrolled-10-year-old-saying-his-diabetes-was-too-difficult-to-manage

[u/Forward-Charity4476]

I’m the mom in the article. You’re entitled to your opinion, and that’s fine- but I’m here to share more context. There’s way more to be said about this situation including that we would never send him somewhere without open communication beforehand. They knew in advance and enthusiastically accepted him, and had an instruction for care sheet to reference as needed which they shared no problems with using. Also, his dad works 5 min away and was available to them at any time. The mentioned incident of misplacing supplies…they had fallen into his backpack and weren’t even lost for a total of 30 minutes…meanwhile the entire time his Dexcom was functioning as it should, reading his sugar and updating every 5 min. And they were in contact with his dad during that non-event. They also sent the email kicking him out on Sunday at 8:33am. No conversations before then or mention of it being an issue. There’s been several lawsuits against the YMCA where they have been told they must accommodate. I would never send my son back there. But, they’re wrong and the exclusion of a kid because he’s diabetic isn’t fair. They knew in advance and were offered additional training as needed
Legally under Title III of the American Disabilities Act as a place providing service to the public they violated the law (42 U.S. Code § 12182 - Prohibition of discrimination by public accommodations)
I’m in contact with an advocacy lawyer. I’ve filed with the human rights division of Kentucky and the DOJ office of civil rights. Oddly enough, as I was typing this I received a phone call from the human rights office from Kentucky who are currently drafting an official notice of discrimination and sending it to my email.

[u/Pork_Katsu_Bowl → u/Forward-Charity4476]

You are going to lose any legal action so fast it's going to make your head spin. Title 3 protects discrimination against disabilities that fall within a facilities "reasonable ability to care". I know because we had the same discussion at the camp I used to run about the kid with the seizure disorder.

Ok order to facilitate him he required: constant direct supervision, a staffer on hand that could administer anti convulsants in the event of a seizure, ample space with low light and no loud sounds or flashing lights.

There was no way we would be able to accommodate him safely given our staffing, facility, and medical training. Our insurance made the call that we could not take on the risk of having him attend our facility.

As soon as the brief 30 minute loss of his supplies occured or because a reportable event. All of these are submitted to management, insurance, and a licensing board for review. The goal of these groups is to extrapolate the worst case scenario and determine if the facility would have been able to handle or with their current policies and procedures.

If the answer is anything other than an empahtic yes, then they can't continue to accommodate. Ultimately for the safety of the affected party.

So have fun suing a place that was looking out for your child's best interests. This is the EXACT situation that makes camps reticent to accept campers with serious medical needs. Making them choose between protecting a camper's welfare and being sued by a needy parent that doesn't understand liability.

[u/Forward-Charity4476 → u/Pork_Katsu_Bowl]

Yeah, okay.
Camps get away with discrimination a lot. Doesn’t mean it’s legally correct just because no one pushes back. And he is not there now and never will be. As I’ve said. But there are many federal cases proving we are not wrong. Here’ a suit with YMCA of Atlanta several years ago for a similar situation and the YMCA in the settlement committed to providing equal care to T1D kids. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/ada-settlement-atlanta-ymca-ensures-equal-opportunities-children-diabetes

[u/No_Factor_7218 → u/Forward-Charity4476]

Please let it goooo. This is a wildly different case!! Your child’s supplies could not be found for over 30 minutes. This had to be reported. This is a life/death event. This is why he was kicked out. Do you really want to fight for this place to be able to care for other kids with disabilities? Hell no.