Feds: Provide students with disabilities equal opportunity to participate in after-school athletics and clubs
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says students with disabilities are often denied the chance to participate in sports.
The U.S. Department of Education sent out one of its clarifying “Dear Colleague” letters today, this one explaining school districts’ legal obligations to provide equal access to extracurricular athletic activities to students with disabilities.
According to US DOE:
Students with disabilities have the right, under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, to an equal opportunity to participate in their schools’ extracurricular activities. A 2010 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that many students with disabilities are not afforded an equal opportunity to participate in athletics, and therefore may not have equitable access to the health and social benefits of athletic participation.
“Sports can provide invaluable lessons in discipline, selflessness, passion and courage, and this guidance will help schools ensure that students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to benefit from the life lessons they can learn on the playing field or on the court,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
The guidance letter provides examples of the types of reasonable modifications that schools may be required to make to existing policies, practices, or procedures for students with intellectual, developmental, physical, or any other type of disability. Examples of such modifications include:
- The allowance of a visual cue alongside a starter pistol to allow a student with a hearing impairment who is fast enough to qualify for the track team the opportunity to compete.
- The waiver of a rule requiring the “two-hand touch” finish in swim events so that a one-armed swimmer with the requisite ability can participate at swim meets.
The guidance also notes that the law does not require that a student with a disability be allowed to participate in any selective or competitive program offered by a school district, so long as the selection or competition criteria are not discriminatory.
“Participation in extracurricular athletics can be a critical part of a student’s overall educational experience, said Seth Galanter, acting assistant secretary for the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). “Schools must ensure equal access to that rewarding experience for students with disabilities.”
In additional U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan devoted his blog to the issue today, writing in part:
Playing sports at any level—club, intramural, or interscholastic—can be a key part of the school experience and have an immense and lasting impact on a student’s life. Among its many benefits, participation in extracurricular athletic activities promotes socialization, the development of leadership skills, focus, and, of course, physical fitness. It’s no secret that sports helped to shape my life. From a very early age, playing basketball taught me valuable lessons about grit, discipline, and teamwork that are still with me to this day.
Students with disabilities are no different – like their peers without disabilities, these students benefit from participating in sports. But unfortunately, we know that students with disabilities are all too often denied the chance to participate and with it, the respect that comes with inclusion. This is simply wrong. While it’s the coach’s job to pick the best team, students with disabilities must be judged based on their individual abilities, and not excluded because of generalizations, assumptions, prejudices, or stereotypes. Knowledgeable adults create the possibilities of participation among children and youth both with and without disabilities.
Today, ED’s Office for Civil Rights has released guidance that clarifies existing legal obligations of schools to provide students with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate alongside their peers in after-school athletics and clubs. We make clear that schools may not exclude students who have an intellectual, developmental, physical, or any other disability from trying out and playing on a team, if they are otherwise qualified. This guidance builds on a resource document the Department issued in 2011 that provides important information on improving opportunities for children and youth with disabilities to access PE and athletics.
Federal civil rights laws require schools to provide equal opportunities, not give anyone an unfair head start. So schools don’t have to change the essential rules of the game, and they don’t have to do anything that would provide a student with a disability an unfair competitive advantage. But they do need to make reasonable modifications (such as using a laser instead of a starter pistol to start a race so a deaf runner can compete) to ensure that students with disabilities get the very same opportunity to play as everyone else. The guidance issued today will help schools meet this obligation and will allow increasing numbers of kids with disabilities the chance to benefit from playing sports.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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94 comments Add your comment
HS Teacher
January 25th, 2013
1:28 pm
Why not? Let the kids play.
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
1:39 pm
oh, this is beyond stupid. its bad enough we bog down classrooms with mainstreaming, we gotta do it with the swim team, too?
why not blind people on the archery team?
mutes on the debate team?
semi functional morons on the academic teams?
Arne is full of crap. as a former runner, part of the thing IS hearing and reacting to the pistol.
and one armed swimmers? in competition?
Obama’s nanny state coming to a pool near you.
way not hobble the skinny fast kids to make sure the fat ones can keep up in track?
or require every basketball team have at least 2 short white kids on the floor at all times
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
1:41 pm
somebody needs to explain to that idiot Duncan exactly what a disability is.
we are graduating functionally illiterate kids, issues like the Beverly Hall fiasco are way to common, and THIS crap is what he’s worrying about?
mystery poster
January 25th, 2013
1:45 pm
I don’t think that the modifications suggested are out of the question. No one is saying that someone who is not eligible or who otherwise wouldn’t have made the team would be waived in.
If a one-armed swimmer can quality for the team, why not waive the “two-handed touch” requirement?
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
1:48 pm
“Students with disabilities are no different”
Arne you idiot, they ARE.
“While it’s the coach’s job to pick the best team, students with disabilities must be judged based on their individual abilities”
how many one armed swimmers are out there who will improve the swim team? and if you find one, the coach will move heaven and earth to get him in the water.
“It’s no secret that sports helped to shape my life”
not well enough, it seems. must be harboring a grudge for all the bench time
“if they are otherwise qualified”
they aren’t you idiot. one legged runners without a modified runners leg AREN’T. a pitcher with no hands ins not.
“not give anyone an unfair head start. So schools don’t have to change the essential rules of the game, and they don’t have to do anything that would provide a student with a disability an unfair competitive advantage”
bald faced lie.
mystery poster
January 25th, 2013
1:51 pm
*oops, qualify
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
1:54 pm
kids in wheelchairs playing soccer. lets do it.
kids with a fear of ice on the hockey team. why not?
quadrapalagics on the wrestling team sounds good.
morbidly obese girls on competition cheer leading. toss her high, kids.
Citizen Shlep
January 25th, 2013
1:56 pm
Dear Feds,
Without your guiding regulatory insights, I might just eat my own p.oo, not knowing any better, like the food pyramid informing me I should load up on carbs so I can get diabetes so the unelected bureaucrats make me fully dependent on the Statist Teet.
the prof
January 25th, 2013
1:57 pm
BF, are you really this big of an idiot. I am a parent of a severely disabled child who no longer attends school (because she is dying, yes dying). Even when she was in school, I had no, let me make that NO, expectations that she either be mainstreamed OR put on any sports team.
Dee Thompson
January 25th, 2013
1:58 pm
My son’s right hand was amputated when he was 5, due to frostbite. He is quite athletic. He plays tennis very well, on the school team. He also likes baseball. He catches and fields better than 90% of the kids out there, and yet he was so discouraged after the last baseball tryouts, he won’t tryout any more. That’s not right. Judge him by his abilities, not his disabilities.
Citizen Shlep
January 25th, 2013
2:01 pm
No One’s talking about your “expectations” ya self-absorbed pity-seeking moron. It’s the FEDS. You get it. The FEDS.
Vixzilla
January 25th, 2013
2:04 pm
I don’t think anyone has been prevented that has a disability if they prove to be able to compete.
NEWSFLASH >> School athletics are COMPETITIVE!!
This means taking advantage of every situation within the rules to WIN.
OUTSMART your opponent
OVERPOWER your opponent
OUTPLAY your opponent
DOMINATE your opponent.
win the MINDGAME!!
If they can thrive in that environment….PLAY BALL!
HOWEVER!! DO NOT make “reasonable accommodations to change the game to be something different than it is today. That’s horse crap!
A. Teesman
January 25th, 2013
2:07 pm
Bootney obviously excelled on the rabid rant team in school. By the way, a pitcher with one hand was a major leaguer. But, you probably knew that already. Don’t let it slow you down though. Continue.
BB
January 25th, 2013
2:13 pm
Bootney, I’m going to guess you didn’t have to worry about any achievements in athletics or certainly academia in your day. Or today. You’re a special kind of stupid.
GUTRAKE
January 25th, 2013
2:13 pm
This administration has got to be the most idiotic group of left-wing nuts ever assembled. Every time I think we’ve reached the bottom, I get blind-sided by more pseudo-intellectual edicts from a gaggle of academic “poindexters” called the Obama Administration. I am embarrassed for our country and I feel dumber every time I hear their progressive dribble…Damn! How stupid will we get before it ends?
MikeDawg
January 25th, 2013
2:22 pm
Very few of us would willing deny kids with disabilities this access; my concern with such pronouncements is usually focuses on where additional monies will be found to provide tailored facilities, special equipment, etc. Once again, feds have all the great ideas without a clue how to make them a reality.
Big poppa
January 25th, 2013
2:25 pm
I wrestled in HS with a deaf guy…..we had no problems. Just told the ref before the match so he would know to give a visual queue or tap him on his back so he would know the whistle had been blown. The same play also played defensive line on the football team. He was never off sides as he did not care what the quarterback yelled.
Greg
January 25th, 2013
2:27 pm
The late Bob Dotter won the ARCA (NASCAR’s “little brother”) National Championship in 1980 … 1983 … and 1984 … … all the while driving with only his right arm … because he lost his left arm to an industrial accident when he was young. … … … If you can drive a race car with one arm … you could do just about anything.
Tommie Storms
January 25th, 2013
2:27 pm
New Guidelines Will Enhance Opportunities for Students with Disabilities to Particpate in School Sports
Impact Compared to Title IX
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 24, 2013
ATLANTA, GA – A historic and significant milestone for our nations’ school children with disabilities has been reached with the guidance issued today by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The guidelines clarify schools’ responsibilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act to provide athletic opportunities for students with disabilities. The American Association of Adapted Sports Programs (AAASP) commends the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights for this guidance, as it will have far reaching positive effects on the lives of children with disabilities and our communities.
Guidelines
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201301-504.html
“Each person and group who has worked within this sports movement can take heart that their work has not gone unnoticed and that with this new guidance we can further advance our vital work of making sure all kids who want to take part in school sports will have an opportunity to do so,” said Beverly Vaughn , AAASP Cofounder and Executive Director.
Ralph Swearngin , Executive Director of the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) and board member of the National Federation of State High Schools said that he applauds the focus OCR is giving to providing athletic opportunities for disabled students. Swearingin commended AAASP for its leadership, expert guidance and pioneering efforts in this area of sport development for students with disabilities and stated, “the partnership GHSA has had with AAASP for over ten years now has been exceptional and we hope to see other state associations join AAASP as we move forward together for the positive educational benefit of sports participation for all students with disabilities.”
Through an alliance struck between the two groups in 2001, GHSA has relied on AAASP to assist with the integration of track and field events for those with disabilities. The AAASP/GHSA Varsity Wheelchair Basketball State Championship game has been telecast across the state for 8 years by Georgia Public Broadcasting alongside the boys and girls title games in basketball.
GAO study called for guidance
The guidance followed a 2010 study from the Government Accountability Office . GAO found that students with disabilities receive fewer opportunities for physical activity and sports participation than students without disabilities. The GAO called on the Department of Education to provide resources to assist states and schools in addressing this disparity of services and also asked that clarification of schools’ responsibilities be provided regarding athletic opportunities for students under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Catolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and George Miller (D-CA) had called for the GOA study.
Advocates invoke Title IX
The Inclusive Fitness Coalition , comprised of over 200 groups around the nation, including AAASP, has called OCR’s guidance a landmark moment in opening the doors to students with disabilities in much the same way as Title IX has done for women. “It sends a loud message to educational institutions that students with disabilities must be provided opportunities for physical activity and sports equal to those afforded to students without disabilities,” according to AAASP Board member, Terri Lakowski , CEO of Active Policy Solutions in Washington, DC and former policy director for the Women’s Sports Foundation. Lakowski has championed efforts for equal physical activity and sports opportunities for women, girls and students with disabilities for over ten years.
Impact
Researchers with Healthy People 2011 indicated that since activity levels in adulthood are usually lower than during childhood, sport and physical activity patterns established during childhood form the foundation for lifelong physical activity and subsequent health and contribute to an overall quality of life.
Studies considered by OCR in issuing their guidance also establish that children with physical disabilities have greater activity barriers. They are often not encouraged to lead active lives and in fact this failure tends to lead to sedentary lives with greater health problems that may be avoidable.
Commenting on OCR’s announcement, Tommie Storms, AAASP’s Cofounder and Director of Operations noted that, “From its founding nearly 16 years ago, when our model was integrated into 10 school districts in less than three months time. AAASP has utilized every tool at its disposal to develop and implement policy, systems, adapted rules and training opportunities that have led to lasting sustainability and reasonable costs.”
Vaughn added, “We would also be remise not to acknowledge those who comprise our member schools and high school associations and nearly two decades of input, review and recognition for our collective efforts by many of the nations’ best minds in this area of sport and physical development. This news could not come at a better time for these administrators, teachers, coaches and coordinators who’ve dedicated themselves to the success of these students.”
Parents whose children take part in these programs have reported that it has been noting short of a life changing experience for their child.
The other top benefits identified by parents whose children participate include:
• The opportunity to play sports that the kids would otherwise never have
• Noted reductions over previous years in secondary health complications resulting from sedentary habits.
• The ability to work hard, participate in a group, set goals, & excel in sports
• Increased motivation to get good grades, improvement in academics
• Active engagement and friendship with other students, mentors, & coaches
Ben Master Named Athlete of the Week in Warner Robbin, GA.
Additional Info
Story 1: PBS, “This is Atlanta” Introduction to AAASP
About AAASP
The American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, Inc. works in partnership with education agencies in the U.S. to establish programs, policies, procedures, and regulations in interscholastic adapted sports for students with physical disabilities; provides services to Local Education Agencies, State High School Associations and State Departments of Education in extracurricular adapted athletics for physically disabled children attending grades 1-12; and improves student well-being while positively influencing total student development. For more information, please visit http://www.adaptedsports.org and/or view this short PBS special on the group.
Prof
January 25th, 2013
2:29 pm
ADA law states that schools must make “reasonable accommodations” for those students with disabilities. The “modifications” mentioned in this guidance letter certainly seem “reasonable.”
I fully support the principle behind the ADA Amendment Act of 2008, which significantly extended the definition of “disabled” from the ADA law originally passed in the 1970s by the way: all citizens should have equal access to public facilities and education. Those with disabilities have as much right to this access as other citizens. This is not “Obama’s nanny state” but long-established Federal law, as much as are Federal laws giving equal rights to other groups such as ethnic/racial minorities and women.
GUTRAKE
January 25th, 2013
2:31 pm
You probably are a professor. Makes sense…
eaglefan
January 25th, 2013
2:36 pm
Go watch Milton varsity boys basketball team play and a kid with one arm starts on the squad. Talking about a disability! Kid never uses it as an excuse.
Beverly Fraud
January 25th, 2013
2:38 pm
“It’s no secret that sports helped to shape my life. From a very early age, playing basketball taught me valuable lessons about grit, discipline, and teamwork that are still with me to this day.”
Apparently not so many lessons about ethics and integrity.
Unless there was a basketball play called “go down to Atlanta and support cheating by doing in your power to politically prop up Beverly Hall.”
Perhaps Duncan should have picked a better role model as an example…
Fred ™
January 25th, 2013
2:45 pm
Dee Thompson
January 25th, 2013
1:58 pm
My son’s right hand was amputated when he was 5, due to frostbite. He is quite athletic. He plays tennis very well, on the school team. He also likes baseball. He catches and fields better than 90% of the kids out there, and yet he was so discouraged after the last baseball tryouts, he won’t tryout any more. That’s not right. Judge him by his abilities, not his disabilities.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SO how was his hitting? What about throwing the ball AFTER he caught or fielded it? Could he get the runner out more often than the kids who made the team? Did he hit the ball better than the ones he was competing against? If the answer to those questions is yes then his coach was stupid not to pick him. If no, then he wasn’t good enough.
Prof
January 25th, 2013
2:47 pm
Thank you for the compliment, GUTRAKE.
I’d also like to point out to some of the bloggers here that all of the Federal laws pertaining to legal equality for those with disabilities were passed under Republican presidents.
Nixon was President in 1973 when the Rehabilitation Act was passed by Congress, banning discrimination on the basis of disability by recipients of federal funds.
George H.W. Bush was President in 1990 when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed by Congress.
George W. Bush was President in 2008, and expressed pride that near the end of his term the ADA Amendment Act was passed by Congress. Not only does this Act widen the definition of “disabled,” but it more explicitly details the sort of “reasonable accommodations” that businesses and schools must make to ensure access by those with disabilities.
Ben Shockley
January 25th, 2013
2:52 pm
Is irrational hatred a disability? If so, don’t tell bootney farnsworth. It might hurt her little feelings.
Harry Callahan
January 25th, 2013
2:53 pm
Is irrational hatred a disability? If so, don’t tell bootney farnsworth. It might hurt her little feelings.
Wolves Mom
January 25th, 2013
2:54 pm
Next thing you know they’ll be in combat. We’re so screwed unless we change direction.
The Truth
January 25th, 2013
2:55 pm
Anyone opposed to this should be disabled for a day to help their perspective. It’s challenging enough to be disabled without the simple thinking expressed by some of the toolboxes on this blog. Burn in Hades, you simpletons.
Ali50
January 25th, 2013
2:56 pm
I remember when my high school (in the 1970’s) was forced to let a girl in a wheelchair become a cheerleader. What a joke! She couldn’t do anything and everyone resented her and it was a disaster. She quit after only a few weeks. While Duncan’s ideas sound grand, I’m sure it’ll turn into another “program’ which forces the competent to concede to the less competent or incompetent in the name of political correctness. Trophies for everyone!
GUTRAKE
January 25th, 2013
2:57 pm
Prof: You seem quite keen on past progressive legislation via conservative icons. Perhaps it is just a little inconvenient for you to also cede the fact that: Slavery was ended by a Republican, Jim Crow laws were eliminated by Republicans, and affirmative action was implemented by a Republican. I would wager that you can’t quite bring yourself to admit these accomplishments…or would I be wrong?…
The Truth
January 25th, 2013
3:01 pm
It’s not about competence, folks. Read it again…no one is requesting that the rules be changed! It’s about human decency and respect for others – yes, even the disabled. Go on about your lives and remained pissed off about those special parking places you can’t park in.
oneofeach4me
January 25th, 2013
3:05 pm
To all these people ranting and raving about laws or regulations to protect/include those who are different from them, maybe if we lived in a civilized society who treated each other with respect instead of acting like animals, then we wouldn’t need them.
Also, do some freakin research. The Rehabilitation Act was passed in 1973 (signed by Nixon) and the 504 Regulations were passed in 1977. Also, the Americans with Disabilities act which further extends the rights of those with disabilities was signed into law in 1990 by who?? George H.W. Bush. This is NOT, I repeat, NOT a new law. This was simply a reminder as well as some suggestions on how to alter certain things to incorporate the law instead of finding ways to work around it.
GUTRAKE
January 25th, 2013
3:07 pm
Dude, take a breath…
oneofeach4me
January 25th, 2013
3:08 pm
Prof ~ you beat me to the submit button.
Fred ™
January 25th, 2013
3:12 pm
Greg
January 25th, 2013
2:27 pm
The late Bob Dotter won the ARCA (NASCAR’s “little brother”) National Championship in 1980 … 1983 … and 1984 … … all the while driving with only his right arm … because he lost his left arm to an industrial accident when he was young. … … … If you can drive a race car with one arm … you could do just about anything.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Really? Let me see him rub his belly and pat his head at the same time…….
Mary Ann
January 25th, 2013
3:16 pm
I realize that many of you commenters were undoubtedly truly elite competitors in your day (eyeroll), but I played sports throughout my childhood for a series of teams that ranged from mediocre to utterly terrible. Those were still some of the best experiences of my life, despite the fact that neither my nor my teammates performance ever touched the kind of gold-medal standards that some folks seem to worry about a disabled athlete tarnishing. All the legislation above does is clarify that *if a student can qualify to compete, with reasonable accommodations, they should be allowed to do so*. I’m just not seeing how that’s really going to somehow (clutches pearls) RUIN, JUST RUIN the experience for everyone else.
Oh, and seriously, y’all, with the racist comments: thank you. It helps me to know who is so lacking in rational adult thought that I can just uniformly skip by your comments every time.
And to the people of color who read those comments: trust me, most of us white folks are deeply ashamed that we share a lesser degree of skin pigment with these folks. Wish I could do more than hide the silver when their jealous, covetous, irrational and clinging-to-any-excuse-for-failure-other-than-their-own-lacking selves are seated for supper at the intellectual table!
GUTRAKE
January 25th, 2013
3:19 pm
Mary Ann, you seem so special…
Fred ™
January 25th, 2013
3:22 pm
A. Teesman
January 25th, 2013
2:07 pm
Bootney obviously excelled on the rabid rant team in school. By the way, a pitcher with one hand was a major leaguer. But, you probably knew that already. Don’t let it slow you down though. Continue.
++++++++++++++++++
Did he need Gov’t intervention or did he make it all on his own? What? He made it on his own? How is that then germane to the subject?
Jim Abbott, (your “pitcher” btw, he has a name), not only made the majors but he also threw a no-hitter. He wasn’t a hall of fame pitcher, but his accomplishment was still amazing nonetheless.
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
January 25th, 2013
3:26 pm
Next thing you know they’ll be in combat….
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will lift a longstanding ban on women serving in combat.
GUTRAKE
January 25th, 2013
3:29 pm
This has been fun! Gotta go…but, we’ll talk again…at the “austerity riots” coming soon at a federal office near you……
BB
January 25th, 2013
3:33 pm
Here here Mary Ann! Most of these people commenting probably can’t see their toes from their beer guts and get winded going to the toilet.
Devil's Advocate
January 25th, 2013
3:36 pm
Both the headline of this article/blog and the messages contained within are misleading and unclear.
“Feds: Provide students with disabilities equal opportunity to participate in after-school athletics and clubs” suggests that there currently exists a climate where students with disabilities are being denied specifically because they have a disability. I’d be shocked if this is the case anywhere but a few specific cases that can be handled without any mandates from the Feds.
For example, there is a difference between denying a student a spot on the basketball team because he has one leg versus denying him the spot because he cannot perform at the level required to make the team. You see, the latter reason can be applied to many able-bodied (I use the term able-bodied since the article emphasizes disabled students) students who simply do not possess the ability to make the team relative to their peers who do make the team.
As for the actual content of this article, the statement was made that this new message from the Feds does not force schools to allow disabled students on competitive teams. Okay, so what’s the big deal here? Let’s go by the 2 examples mentioned:
1. The allowance of a visual cue alongside a starter pistol to allow a student with a hearing impairment who is fast enough to qualify for the track team the opportunity to compete.
This is a reasonable request but sounds more like the Feds are asking school districts to be more compliant with equipment used to facilitate sporting events. There doesn’t seem to be any call to action for providing “opportunity” to anyone as these requests already assume that participants are deserving to compete without special treatment.
2. The waiver of a rule requiring the “two-hand touch” finish in swim events so that a one-armed swimmer with the requisite ability can participate at swim meets.
The spirit of the reason for “two-hand touch” should not be erased as it’s probably there for a reason. I’m not a swimmer but is there some competitive advantages that could be taken using only a “one-hand touch” system? Why hasn’t this been implemented before? If there is a good reason for having the “two-hand touch” system, rather than waive the rule, alter it to say that swimmers much touch with all available hands to “finish” the race. I’m not familiar with the fastest times posted by one-arm swimmers but is it even reasonable to assume that they can beat the best two-arm swimmers constantly? I’m just asking because I don’t know.
I don’t know, the headline was just misleading to me after reading the story.
William Casey
January 25th, 2013
3:41 pm
@Bootney: you’re usually reasonable with good ideas. You’re irrationally unreasonable on this topic. I was not an elite athlete, somewhat due to having had polio strike the deltoid muscle in my dominant right arm. I was, however, “good competitive.” Had I come along in the ’20’s-’30’s rather than the ’50’s-’60’s, I would have been denied the opportunity to compete. I would have missed a lot! Sure, I had to learn to do everything left-handed. It was hard. It was also an invaluable lesson.
Only one school, Bowdon H.S., of the seven I worked in had any kind of intramural athletic program. I’ve always thought that high schools should have such programs. It would help all kids including the disabled ones.
Devil's Advocate
January 25th, 2013
3:41 pm
As far as the political rants that show up on every AJC blog no matter the subject, it seems that Republicans are celebrated for doing liberal things but Democrats are called socialists for doing liberal things.
*boggle*
William Casey
January 25th, 2013
3:43 pm
@ DEVIL’S ADVOCATE: I totally agree.
Bill Ellis
January 25th, 2013
3:53 pm
I am a public school teacher who coaches middle school basketball and baseball. My teaching job happens to be special education. I would say this article is yet another excercise in telling those who “do” already what and how they should be doing. I know of several kids with disabilities (albeit usually minor ones) who already participate in school sports. I have a former disabled student (mental disability) who is on the High School wrestling team and is a manager on the football team because the coaches like his attitude and work ethic. It is not like teachers need another beaurcrat telling them what the right way to do things, they are already doing it. As a coach, we always root for the kid who have any problems – one parent homes, low socioeconomic home, any disability, etc – however – sports are about a little taste of the real world – competition, doing your best – win or lose. If this is taken away in the interest of being “fair” it messes up what sports are and should be. What about a kid who would have made the team, but for the fact the coach is forced to take someone with a disability, what about his or her rights? Typical beauracratic nonsense creating more problems than are solved.
Beverly Fraud
January 25th, 2013
4:03 pm
I think Maureen got the caption wrong on the Duncan photo. I think (if I remember it from the archives correctly) the caption was, “Little girl, if I give you noodles will you also testify there were no erase marks on your paper and there is no way Beverly Hall knew or should have known.”
Beverly Fraud
January 25th, 2013
4:05 pm
Why bring this up you might ask? Because if Duncan can’t acknowledge his role in attempting to politically propping up Beverly Hall, then we have every right to call his integrity into question.
Chuck UUGA
January 25th, 2013
4:05 pm
Ahhh, an opening for the trial lawyers! Here come the lawsuits against School Districts with multi-million dollar awards funded to these turds via your tax dollars! Property taxes headed up to fund this activity! Then, you can expect girls on the sidelines for high school football games, boys suing to be cheerleaders, etc., much of which will be allowed to avoid those days in court. Think I’m kidding?! Then you are an idiot. Trial lawyers hire disabled to drive around spotting businesses who do not provide disabled access thereby violating the Americans with Disabilities Act that Queen Janet Reno passed under Clinton (and a law that will never be made reasonable via modification due to no elected official willing to stand up to such modification). This is also GREAT NEWS for private schools which continue to propagate and unintentionally continue to segregate our youth from mainstream America. Second Civil War was predicted. and I am afraid it is likely to occur within the next century. This garbage above is just another example of why.
williebkind
January 25th, 2013
4:26 pm
Is this another sympathy law? I guess winning does not matter as long as everyone gets to play. I encourage anyone and everyone to challenge themselves but I never ask the government to be involved. Well, I guess football contributes to students and citizens having disabilities but like women in the military they are very few who can really contributet to a winning team. We only have to lose one major war and we get another education in a foreign language perhaps.
KIM
January 25th, 2013
4:29 pm
Here goes a very politically incorrect opinion (and I might add my own fam has disabled children in it–and I love them to the moon and beyond): when teaching in the 70s-mid 90s I had children with severe learning disabilities. I was dedicated to them all; however, the extent to which I modified the curriciulum and accomodated their disability rendered a class that did not resemble the class for which they had signed up. In other words, what they did was so watered down compared to that which the other children took, it was useless. However, the class title appeared on their transcript. And so, they got credit for the “class” that was no where near “the class.” It made me feel like a betrayer of the trust, but fed guidelines offered no alternative and do not offer one in 2013. No one wants disabled children to lack the opportunity to be involved in any sport/activity that he/she can do safely. Obviously most unable to walk will not be the kicker on a football team, but could cheer from the sidelines with no problem. Use common sense.
FBT
January 25th, 2013
4:36 pm
Often the amount of resources devoted to a few athletes is not justified, let everyone on the team.
Tucker
January 25th, 2013
4:38 pm
This requirement seems reasonable considering how many blind people are refereeing football and basketball games.
twinkie1cat
January 25th, 2013
4:43 pm
A Most Valuable Player at Southside High School in Atlanta hit the longest homerun in the history of the school around 2000. It hit the apartment building across Glenwood. He was a special education child with intellectual and learning disabilities. His best friend played both football on his school team and basketball in Special Olympics in Henry or Douglas County. He was mildly retarded and autistic.
twinkie1cat
January 25th, 2013
4:49 pm
Saying that kids with special needs degrades the schools and those who teach them as well as the kids themselves. If the can keep up, they should be able to play on whatever team they qualify for. An Olympic caliber runner sued the school system a few years back. He was blind and the only consideration he needed was an outside lane. He won some money and his coach, also legally blind, got harassed by the school and lost his coaching supplement. He had told the boy how to file suit. The boy got fed up with the attitude of the school system, left, got his GED and went to college out of state on a scholarship. It is time for this NOT to happen any more. Time and past time. Just because a kid is slow, has a learning disability or has a physical handicap does not mean they cannot excel sometimes in sports. Some can. Some can’t. They all need the opportunity.
Mary Ann
January 25th, 2013
4:55 pm
Why, thank you, GUTRAKE! I am pretty special. I also make a really, really nice living in a STEM field where I am paid to work on solutions to complex problems every day. I guess that’s probably why I can see through all the racist and reactionary trolling in these comments!
bu2
January 25th, 2013
4:59 pm
Sure a lot of noise about nothing. Both sides making a big deal about what looks like common sense. Perhaps the devil is in the details. What is a “reasonable accomodation?” The examples are pretty easy. Maybe reality gets more complicated.
By the way, a one legged wrestler won the NCAA Division I championships in his weight class last year. And he was the favorite. It was no fluke.
southern opinion
January 25th, 2013
5:00 pm
HOW DARE YOU!!!!!! My son who is now 27 was on the forefront of special education accommodations. He was born with spina bifida and above normal intelligence. He has been in a wheelchair most of his life. His elementary school had steps so he had to go outside to get to his classes until they built inside ramps. He wasn’t allowed to stay at the afterschool program unless I hired an aide. I said I’d “onsult” th my attorney – he was welcomed with open arms. He broke his leg at the afterschool program and had to get himself back in his wheelchair. He was placed in a bodycast and the school said “we’re sorry!” I would have to homeschool him. Again – I said I’d “consult” with my attorney. The school hired an aide and he went to school in his body cast.
I say all that to say that little boy is now a grown man who sits on several state boards as an advocate for people with disabilities. He flies all over the US to attend seminars. He recently had lunch with the ast US Attorney General. He had to help pave the way for many handicapable kids that followed him. He has been driving since he was 16 in his own car; he graduated cum laude and now lives independently in Birminham, Alabama. He is employed by one of the prominent businesses there that recently built a new building by Sixteenth Baptist Church and the Civil Rights Museum. Where would he be now with people like Bartsie Fartsie? You are an SOB!!!!!
Pride and Joy
January 25th, 2013
5:03 pm
The accomodations sound easy and reasonable. There are no high-stakes outcomes at any kids’ games so let the kids play.
ActivePolicySolutions
January 25th, 2013
5:07 pm
“This is a landmark moment for students with disabilities. This will do for students with disabilities what Title IX did for women.” – Terri Lakowski
Please refer to our website for updates and analysis http://www.activepolicy.cm
Mary Ann
January 25th, 2013
5:08 pm
@southern opinion– isn’t it fascinating how the same people who will scream to the rafters about how only merit should be taken into account in any decision are the same ones who holler the loudest when tweaks are suggested that may actually allow merit to be correctly assessed? Sounds like you did a fantastic job equipping your son to excel!
Maude
January 25th, 2013
5:22 pm
Schools are failing today because of allowing everyone to be treated the same! Students with special needs especially behavior problems are allowed to ruin the education of everyone else. We as a country need to realize that everyone is different and need different education and sports. This one size fits all in education works about as good as one size fits all clothing does.
bob
January 25th, 2013
5:37 pm
More money, more jobs ! Any estimate of costs or does that not matter these days ?
indigo
January 25th, 2013
5:43 pm
I’m waiting for the ACLU to sue professional football, basketball and baseball to let shorter, slower people be on the teams or else face discrimination charges.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
January 25th, 2013
6:11 pm
southern opinion,
It sounds like your child has become a great individual, and you are to be commended for advocating for him. However, though I can applaud efforts like pressuring schools to provide ramps for handicapped individuals, I have mixed feeling about forcing schools to hire an “aide” to assist one child. I am sure you did what you felt was best for your child, but if a regular education student had been in a full body cast, it is likely they would have been kept at home and had a home-school coordinator visit a few times a week to provide home assistance with lessons provided by the teacher. The money for a personal aide or tutor comes from somewhere, and one of the reasons classrooms are being short changed when it comes to materials for regular education students, is because increasing amounts of funding is being funneled into Special Needs students. More and more students are surviving childhood medical conditions that would have been fatal 15 years ago – many of them now have some serious needs which cost schools a great deal of money to address. These students have real needs for personal aides and expensive equipment, but regardless of how legitimate their needs, it is adding additional financial burdens to schools that are already struggling from lack of funding.
In addition, there is the unfortunate trend for some parents to use their child’s special needs designation as a road to a “personalized one on one instruction” at taxpayers’ expense. We have several children in our system who have personal aides, not due to need, but because their parents hired a big name lawyer and a parent advocate and threatened billion dollar lawsuits, so they got their way. In their cases, the results are nothing more than legal bullying.
RCB
January 25th, 2013
6:43 pm
The Feds are always good at coming up with a myriad of ideas with no corresponding funding. Same old, same old. Get the Feds out of education. To this topic, if no advantageous accomodations have to be made, let them play. Personally, I never knew a special needs child who wanted to play a sport he/she was not qualified for, nor have I ever known one to be denied. I think it’s all much ado about nothing.
Southern opinion
January 25th, 2013
7:33 pm
I have a master’s in special education. iAlso have seen parents of special needs students abuse the system. Many parents get SSI money for a child with learning disabilities when that child doesn’t get the help he/she needs with the money. Instead the parent(s) uses it to buy a new car or a new house. When my son needed an aide it was for four weeks. I would have lost my job and then my house if I had to homeschool him. I did what I had to do! Never did I have to ask for anything else during his twelve years of school. Did I cheat the system? Did I take funds away from others? No! I did not get SSI because I was a teacher and did not qualify for funds. I never depended on the government to support me or my family. Am I proud of my son – you betcha! Walk a mile in my shoes before passing judgement. Don’t put kids with disabilities on the sidelines! Everyone can excel! Maybe it’s learning to feed yourself, maybe it’s going up a hill in a wheelchair
Southern opinion
January 25th, 2013
7:34 pm
I have a master’s in special education. iAlso have seen parents of special needs students abuse the system. Many parents get SSI money for a child with learning disabilities when that child doesn’t get the help he/she needs with the money. Instead the parent(s) uses it to buy a new car or a new house. When my son needed an aide it was for four weeks. I would have lost my job and then my house if I had to homeschool him. I did what I had to do! Never did I have to ask for anything else during his twelve years of school. Did I cheat the system? Did I take funds away from others? No! I did not get SSI because I was a teacher and did not qualify for funds. I never depended on the government to support me or my family. Am I proud of my son – you betcha! Walk a mile in my shoes before passing judgement. Don’t put kids with disabilities on the sidelines! Everyone can excel! Maybe it’s learning to feed yourself, maybe it’s going up a hill in a wheelchair, or maybe it’
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
8:18 pm
ahhhh, the sweet sound of rabid personal attacks by liberals and progressives.
lets me know I’m right on the mark.
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
8:31 pm
working in reverse order here:
southern opinion>
for starters, your level of education matters squat to the point at hand. its a nice attempt at a strawman, but utterly pointless and worthless to this discussion
next, everything you say about your son and his accomplishments, assuming its true, also mean squat in this discussion.
again a great attempt at a deflective hysterical strawman. pointless and self serving on your part, but I give you high marks for the effort.
how dare I? simple. I’ll not see the efforts and hard work of others bastardized by touchy feely crap designed to lower standards, not raise people up.
funny how at no time did you have a story about your alleged child competing or even trying to in an athletic event.
I may be an SOB, but I’m not you. I win that exchange every time. funny how you demand people walk in your shoes, but you seem to have no interest in walking in mine.
hypocrite
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
8:34 pm
@ Maureen
stop it with the damn moderation or whatever.
I’ve been attacked and sworn at by people who don’t even attempt to deal with my point. allow me the opportunity to deal with them
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
8:42 pm
@ A Teesman
when I first read your comments I had a flashback to an old Sat Night Live skit, and one really perfect line which applies to your post
adjusting, it goes like this: A Teesman, you ignorant slut. sorry dude, but your brought this on yourself
-you didn’t deal with the issue, you went after me personally. so you were dead meat from the jump.
first: I say no hands, you said one handed. so either, you can’t read, didn’t bother, or have pathetic reading comprehension.
BTW: Jim Abbot played in the American League, where he did not have to come to bat.
http://www.jimabbott.net/biography.html
shooting fish in a barrel.
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
8:45 pm
@ mary ann
I’m curious: did you ever play sports? sports aren’t about merit, they are about effort and excellence.
the hardest work and best attitude in the world won’t get you on the field if you can’t do it.
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
8:48 pm
@ BB
and you would be wrong. care about assumptions, you know what they say….
I may be a special kind of stupid, but I’m not wrong. you, however, failed to even address the issue.
which makes you………
again, fish in a barrell
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
8:49 pm
@ prof
don’t worry, I’m coming your way. saving you for last.
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
9:01 pm
@ william
respectfully disagree. athletics in not about equality, but about excellence and its pursuit. everyone who plays anything for any length of time has issues they have to overcome. its in the overcoming that the true value of sports is achieved.
when you start mandating accomediations instead of allowing them to occur naturally on a case by case basis, you undercut and bastardize the entire activity. in the name of “fairness”, you punish everyone. and in many ways the handicapped student most of all.
history is full of athletes who had to overcome major life challenges to excel. and through their excelling under the rules everyone else plays by, they lifted everyone up, themselves most of all.
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
9:07 pm
and now prof
hopefully this will be allowed, because frankly, you have this coming.
you are a contemptible, little, troll of a man who is beneath contempt.
prostituting your alleged dying child to make political points? points which had nothing to do with the issue at hand……?
what a sad, sad, sad little man you are.
and so you’ll not accuse me of keyboard commando, let me know your office hours at Ga State and I’ll be glad to tell you to your face. not a problem at all.
but please have campus security on hand. I want some protection in case you fly into some kind of unhinged rage.
bootney farnsworth
January 25th, 2013
9:15 pm
life’s little irony moment.
you faux outraged fail in the most epic way for a little reason you had no way of knowing, since its not an issue which I allow to dominate my life.
I AM a disabled athlete, you idiots. have been for decades. never let it slow me and, and never asked for any special treatment. all I ever asked for was to be treated like everybody else.
I spent many extra hours working with coaches to find ways to compensate for my issues so I could try and fail by the standards everybody else worked under. succeed or fail, I knew I did it by my own effort and talent, not by having the system take pity on me.
by forcing schools to make special arrangements for challenged students, you do them much more harm than good. pity you can’t see it.
Prof
January 25th, 2013
9:17 pm
@ Bootney Farnsworth. Just so you know, “the prof” is not the same as me, “Prof.” Though I have to say that I find his outrage at those who seem to mock those with disabilities to be understandable.
FlaTony
January 25th, 2013
9:34 pm
reasonable accomodations – okay. but…
anyone read Harrison Bergeron lately?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron
KIM
January 25th, 2013
9:48 pm
In athletics, the bottom line is the player who can, plays….intellectually abled or disabled. They play to win. Athletics takes care of those who go out and can’t produce. I could be declared disabled in any sport….I just ain’t got it. But, I go out and expect to sit on the bench. Can I help by being on the field or court to provice a practice partner, or whatever? Yes. Fun for me. Now, my parents….not so much fun as they sit in the stands and never see me compete. But, that is what the life of an athlete is. You know some players are better than you. It seems to me it is a very level playing field. Either you can produce or you can’t. And why in the world would a parent of ANY child subject him/her to such a painful experience if it is going to hurt the child’s self esteem? My folks would not have encouaged this 5 foot 2 inch person to go out for high school basketball. Swimming? Yes. Golf? Yes Ping Pong? Yes. But not basketball. This is NOT what the feds need to be involved in.
Georgia coach
January 25th, 2013
10:14 pm
Bootney it is is now very obvious why GPC fired your butt!!!
chris
January 26th, 2013
1:37 am
I am not a liberal but Arne Duncan has been a great Secretary of Education for a multitude of reasons. As for this I couldn’t agree more. When I was at school many moons ago there was a boy who was disabled. He had one arm and the other was a stub. He won in every sport there was from cycling to rugby to boxing. He commanded respect by overcoming his disability and competing on a level playing field. This was at school in the UK. In today’s environment here in the US he would be automatically excluded. Yes students with disabilities should have equal access.
Southern opinion
January 26th, 2013
9:02 am
Special Olympics are available for students with mental disabilities as well as physical ones. The ParaOlympics are there for athletes with disabilities. Disabled athletes are often required to go to special (often) rehabilitation centers that enable them to participate with others with varying degrees of similar disabilities. Lakeshore is a great example in Birmingham, AL. World class rugby, wheelchair racing and basketball, along with superior swimming are all available for kids and adults with disabilities. I think Duncan is trying to bring sports for those with disabilities “out of the closet”. High school is a place to shine; let them shine too.
Colonel Jack
January 26th, 2013
1:05 pm
@FlaTony … drat, you beat me to it! I was going to make the “Harrison Bergeron” reference.
Read the story. It’s a tongue-in-cheek look at where we seem to be headed…
the prof
January 26th, 2013
3:40 pm
Fartsworth, sorry you got fired from your prof job. You must not have been as important as you think you are. Not at GSU, but bring it anyway, I’d be glad to meet up with you one on one. Enjoy your pathetic existence you whiny little troll….
Prof
January 27th, 2013
12:35 pm
This has been a very instructive blog-thread so far. An intense, almost instinctive recoil from the disabled can be seen in those who at once exaggerate the implications of the ADA ruling, and an equally intense defense of the disabled can be seen by those with some personal experience with them. (I disbelieve any posters claiming to be disabled themselves while ridiculing those with disabilities and terming them “handicapped.” That term went out more than 20 years ago, along with “lunatic” for the mentally ill.)
This same news story appeared on Jan. 25 in the New York Times, and it included this statement: “No student with a disability is guaranteed a spot on an athletic team for which other students must try out, according to the Education Department. But districts must “afford qualified students with disabilities an equal opportunity for participation in extracurricular athletics in an integrated manner to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the student.” See how simple it is? “Qualified students,” “an equal opportunity for participation,” “appropriate to the needs of the student.”
A disability can occur so easily; yes, even to you healthy able-bodied parents of healthy able-bodied children. Not just by a birth defect. By a sudden car accident or a serious fall or the development of a hereditary health problem…or by age. Judge the disabled with charity lest you too be judged some day.
Fred ™
January 27th, 2013
5:03 pm
Ya know “Prof”…….. My mom had a friend many years ago, more than 20, mom has been dead that many years….. she was blak, you probably say African American although she had NEVER been to Africa…….. they were talking Emelda said, ” In my live I started out as a ngger, I was then colored, became negro, was black, and now I’m “African American. The funny thing is that the color of my skin didn’t change one time.”
My point? Your ignorant comment about people saying handicapped: twenty years from now your pet name, disabled, will be out of vogue. It actually is already. Look at all the PC folks who now say “otherly abled.” Twenty years form now they STILL won’t be able to walk, talk, hear, spit, or whatever it is that sets them apart. They STILL will be valid human beings, as valid as you and me, but their “label” will change, and some asshat like you will be judging someone else on what they call “the other’ people.
Just damn. Life’s too short for this………
Prof
January 27th, 2013
5:39 pm
@ Fred (TM).
I really don’t think it’s a matter of wanting to be “PC” (whatever that means), but not wanting to make those one is talking about feel bad, especially by making them feel that they are isolated freaks. According to a BBC news report on offensive terms, ” “Handicapped” is a word which many disabled people consider to be the equivalent of ngger. It evokes thoughts of being held back, not in the race, not as good, weighed down by something so awful we ought not to speak of it.” THEY don’t like being termed “handicapped.” At an earlier time, I think the equivalent offensive term was “crippled.” Now that does make me wince.
Those terms that your mother’s friend used, except for the first one, all were used by the people themselves to describe themselves. In fact, during their time, “colored,” “Negro,” “black,” then “African-American” were all considered polite euphemisms for the first word, “ngger.”
Names and labels do make a difference. I have always thought that if a person in the minority referred to is offended, then I should respect that. Even though, as an outsider, I am not bothered by the name at all.
Prof
January 27th, 2013
5:54 pm
P.S. My original point was that a person who really does have a disability is quite unlikely to use the term “handicapped.”
Catlady
January 28th, 2013
11:16 am
We’ve had a blind girl in the band, in chorus, and a boy with a withered arm in football. All were excellent.
If the child has to have a parapro to get by in class, I would think NO to much of the regular activities.
One thing I have seen is parents demanding the school have a parapro available so their kid can go to the school dance. At some point, we have to say no.
Prof
January 28th, 2013
1:11 pm
@ Catlady. A school dance certainly doesn’t seem like a covered extra curricular activity! But as to your second paragraph, I hope that your school checks the ADA-Amendments Act of 2008, for definitions have been widened and changed.
A disability is “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more significant life activities.” OK, same as before, though now those “impairments” are considerably broader in scope. But “significant life activities” now Include “caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working.”
Businesses have had to make new accommodations to this 2008 Amendment to ADA, and schools will too. Your HR department should be working on this, for I’m pretty sure that your parents of disabled students are. My own HR Department made the updating all relevant policies a top priority as soon as the Act passed in 2008.
Prof
January 29th, 2013
10:53 am
And one more thing. I understand the concerns that schools with limited budgets have about meeting laws on ADA-compliance. All of the USG research universities and many of the colleges have the same problem, for they have campuses with aging buildings built before 1990 when the ADA-law was passed. They have the same problem. But Federal law is Federal law. All schools must provide access to all its students.
The ADAAG (ADA Accessibility Guidelines) rank in priority the areas of access; and the three that must be met are access to buildings (ramps), access to classrooms (elevators if school is more than one story high), and accessible bathrooms (outer doors, stalls, and toilets). Whether there is only one student involved or not, there must be this access for all. And it isn’t really just for one, for there will be disabled students in the future at the school.
Schools may protest they don’t have the funds (as “I Love Teaching” does), but it’s Federal law. They better find the funds. ALL students must have equal access.