On Fri, 21 Sep 2007 06:00:18 -0400, Mary Buskohl <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I am a lactation consultant and want to assist with ensuring nursing moms 
>maintain their right to breastfeed. However, we cannot look at this just as a 
>breastfeeding issue. What about others who feel they should be given loger 
>breaks for whatever....smoking (and no I am not a smoker), exta bathroom, 
>etc? If one is given extra time for any reason, others will want the same for 
>their reason. As a nurse, I remembr when I took the boards. People taking the 
>boards were told they could leave the room to go to the bathroom, however 
>the time continued which meant less time for the exam.
>Mary Buskohl MSN, RN, IBCLC
>Florida

Hi, Mary -- I think the question here is whether pumping breaks are more analogous to 
bathroom and cigarette breaks or to extra time that is given to individuals with learning 
disabilities.  The Americans with Disabilities Act legally protects access to education for 
people with learning disabilities.  One of the main accommodations those with learning 
disabilities get when taking exams is extra time.

Now many have argued, as you do about pumping breaks, that these ADA 
accommodations aren't fair, and that all of us, for one reason or another, could benefit 
from extra time when taking exams.  But for individuals with learning disabilities the 
difference between a timed exam and an untimed is exam is the difference between 
being shut out of higher education and having access to it.  That's why, despite what 
anyone thinks about fairness, these accommodations are legally required.

A person with dyslexia cannot will herself to stop being dyslexic for the duration of an 
exam.  Similarly, a breastfeeding mother cannot will her breasts to stop making milk 
over a nine-hour period.  It takes a couple of minutes to take an unscheduled bathroom 
break, and a nicotine-patch to go most of the day without a cigarette, but there is no 
quick, easy way to remove milk from the breasts.

The medical exam board, of all organizations, wants to deny A)The fact that human 
lactation occurs in a certain, unalterable way and B) The right of any lactating mother to 
take an exam without experiencing excruciating pain and extremely onerous leakage. 

I haven't followed the case closely, but I suspect that the court sided with the exam board 
because there is currently no law protecting breastfeeding mothers and babies in these 
situations.  This is probably a reason to contact our legislators, and point out the human 
and civil rights that are stake in situations such as these.

Kerry Ose, who suddenly has more time to post now that my younger child is in school... 

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