Elizabeth Studer is a little girl who was born with the disability cerebral palsy. Just like the other children in her second-grade class, Elizabeth wants to play outside at recess with her classmates at Block House Creek Elementary School, in Leander, Texas.

But Elizabeth uses a walker or a wheelchair, depending on the day, and has difficulty moving on the mulch which covers the school’s playground.

The Studer family recently took action on behalf of their daughter and filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education. The lawsuit claims that the Studier’s 8-year-old daughter "has been discriminated against on the basis of her disability" because the school’s playground isn’t accessible to her needs.

Disability Lawsuit

Despite the allegations, district officials said they have complied with state and federal disability laws. According to Melissa Studer, Elizabeth’s mother, she has driven to the school during recess time and watched her daughter sit on a bench because she can’t go on the equipment.

The Studer’s reportedly first raised the issue of the inaccessibility of the playground when Elizabeth first started at Block House Creek Elementary kindergarten. Since this time, they have reportedly brought the issue up three times. The complaint states that the playground "doesn’t contain a significant number of activities that she can access independently, or with minimal assistance."

"There’s not one thing she can access independently," her mother explains. "The problem really is the fact that the district doesn’t want to spend the money to upgrade the district’s playgrounds, and even the new schools don’t make them accessible.”

The Studer family is requesting in their lawsuit that instead of mulch on the playground at the school, it be replaced with a hard rubber surface.

"We’re hoping that they make the playground at Block House Creek Elementary accessible so Elizabeth can use it and are hoping they make all the other playgrounds accessible at the other schools," says Steven Elliot, the Studer’s cerebral palsy attorney.