Martinez v. Sch. Bd. of Hillsborough Cnty.

861 F.2d 1502 (11th Cir. 1988)

When a school board isolated an HIV positive student with developmental disabilities from the general population at the school, SLC submitted an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities (now Disability Rights Florida) that discussed an issue of first impression involving the interrelationship of Rehabilitation Act and Education of Handicapped Act (now IDEA) claims. The court’s decision set out the appropriate framework for evaluating these types of discrimination claims for future courts and reversed the lower court’s decision allowing the child to be segregated in a separate classroom. The child subsequently won the right to attend school along with the general population.