EHS Victory

A US education authority has agreed to accommodate a teacher with electro- magnetic hypersensitivity (EHS).

Anura Lawson, a secondary teacher at Johnnie Cochran Middle School, appealed to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to be able to teach in a WiFi- free classroom.

On 28 May Ms Lawson told a hearing of the LAUSD that, after the WiFi was turned on at school, she collapsed and was rushed to hospital for surgery and her students suffered from nose and ear and ear bleeds. Ms Lawson, a cancer survivor and mother of six, said that she wanted ’to be around to see them grow up’ and reminded the hearing that the constitution required authorities to do no harm. 1

On 18 September, the Board’s Disability Coordinator, Demetrius Patrick, wrote to Ms Lawson acceding to her request. His letter stated: ‘The Committee approved your request to have the Wi-Fi turned off in your classroom during the 2014-2015 school year. As an alternate accommodation, the Committee also approved a reassignment to a different school site where Wi-Fi has yet to be installed.’ 2

1 LAUSD hearing: https://youtu.be/wghaMbzRnb4

2 Correspondence, Demetrius Patrick, Los Angeles Unified School District, 18.09.2014