Equal Opportunities in School Sports for Students with Disabilities

Students with disabilities are all too often denied the chance
to participate in school sports at the club, intramural and
interscholastic level, and as a result, students with disabilities
often miss out on the many health and social benefits of athletics.
A 2010 United States Government Accountability Office report
confirmed that many students with disabilities are not afforded
an equal opportunity to participate in athletics. On January 25,
2013, the United States Department of Education’s Office for
Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance reiterating and clarifying
school districts’ existing legal obligations under Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) to provide students with
disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in extracurricular
athletic activities.
The guidance warns school districts not to operate their programs
based upon generalizations or stereotypes about disabilities.
Instead, each student should be assessed individually. School
districts may require a level of skill or ability for participating in
a competitive program, so long as the selection or competition
criteria are not discriminatory. The provision of an equal
opportunity does not mean that every student with a disability is
guaranteed a spot on a team for which other students must try out.
However, a school district must allow a student with a disability
an equal opportunity for participation in extracurricular athletics
in an integrated manner to the maximum extent appropriate
for the particular student. This means that a school must allow
reasonable modifications when necessary, unless the requested
modification would constitute a fundamental alteration of
the activity. The school must engage in an “individualized
inquiry” to determine if a reasonable modification is required.
A modification may constitute a fundamental alteration if it
would alter an essential aspect of the game or create an unfair
advantage for the student with a disability. By way of example, the
guidance notes as a reasonable modification a visual cue instead
of a starting gun so that a student with a hearing impairment can
compete on the track team. Students with disabilities must be
included in existing school sports program as much as possible.
For students with disabilities who are not able to participate in the
existing programs with reasonable modifications, the guidance
states that school districts should offer additional athletic
opportunities and that these opportunities “should be supported
equally, as with a school district’s other athletic activities.” If the
number of students with disabilities at one school is insufficient to
field a team, schools can develop regional or co-ed teams or offer
“allied” or “unified” teams on which students with and without
disabilities participate.
We will be watching to see the impact this guidance will have on
our local communities. Stay tuned!
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