meeting the civil rights of student athletes with disabilities
TRANSCRIPT
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Looking Forward toChallenges of Mee
the Civil Rights of Athletes with Disa
Jonathan M. Minear, J.D.
Attorney, Helsell Fetterman LLP
Seattle, Washington
Cinda Johnson, Ed.D.
Associate Professor, Seattle Unive
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The Problem
Children and adolescents are getting less exercise t
before.
Low levels of physical activity correspond to higher
inactivity, obesity, and other health problems in adu
June 2010 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/index.html
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Issues, continued
Copyright by FBellon Republished under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Computadoras_y_Obesidad.jpg
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Issues, continued
Children and youth with physical and developmedisabilities engage in even less physical activitytimes less activity than their peers without disab
Students with physical and developmental disabhave fewer opportunities to participate in
extracurricular athletics than students with intelldisabilities, at least partly because fewer progradesigned or adapted to fit the needs of students
disabilities.
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Federal Law - Least Restrictive Environmen
General education has three dimensions: the acacurriculum, extracurricular activities, and nonacade
activities.
Presumption of inclusion is only set aside if the studdisabilities cannot benefit from being educated with
students without disabilities and only after that studbeen provided supplementary aids and services in tgeneral education setting.
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Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 19
Forty years ago, Congress enacted the Rehabilitatio1973 as a comprehensive federal program to empo
individuals with disabilities.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act mandatesnondiscrimination and reasonable accommodation
Entities that receive federal funds directly or indirec
schools) must provide aids that afford equal opportpeople with disabilities.
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PGA Tour, Inc. v. Casey Martin
Casey Martin was a successful professional golfer in1990s and 2000s.
Birth defect in right leg that prevented him from wafull golf course.
He sued the PGA Tour under the Americans with Dis
Act for the right to use a golf cart during competitio
In 2001, the US Supreme Court held that the Tour clawfully deny him the option to ride in the cart betwshots.
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OCRs Dear Colleague Letter dated 1/25/13
Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
According to OCR, the purpose of its letter was to clarify exiobligations to provide equal opportunities in athletics to studisabilities.
Directs school districts to make reasonable modifications aaccommodations for students with disabilities that allow m
opportunities to participate. Explains that a school districts obligation to comply with Se
and its regulations supersedes any rule of any association,organization, club, or league that might prohibit a student fparticipating, or limit the eligibility of a student to participatbasis of disability.
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Three Main Parts of OCRs Guidance Letter
1. Stereotypes and Generalizations2. Equal Opportunities (Reasonable Modificatio
Fundamental Alterations)
3. Separate or Different Opportunities
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1. Stereotypes
Schools may not operate their athletic programs onthe basis of generalization or stereotypes about thecapabilities of students with disabilities.
No students are not guaranteed a spot on the team
Example: Lacrosse player with learning disabilities
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1. Stereotypes, continued
Anthony Robles,2010-11 NCAA Wrestling Champion, 125 lb weight class
Copyright Unknown http://lobshots.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/man-crush-of-the-week-one-legged-wrestler-anthony-robles/
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2. Equal Opportunities, continued
If a student requests a modification that goes too far (i.e., c
an improper fundamental alteration), the school must loo
less-drastic modifications would allow the students particip
Schools should not deny requests for aids or services after s
hours because OCR has stated that it would rarely, if ever, a
those requests fundamentally alter the schools education p
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2. Equal Opportunities, continued
Oscar Pistorius
Olympian
Copyright by Erik van Leeuwen - Republished under terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oscar_Pistorius_2_Daegu_2011.jpg
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2. Equal Opportunities, continued
John Olerud
MLB First Baseman
Copyright Unknown - Republished under terms of Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Olerud.JPG
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2. Equal Opportunities, continued
Highly individualized fact-specific inquiry.
Examples:
Hearing-impaired track and field athlete
One handed swimmer
Gymnast with diabetes
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3. Separate or Different Opportunities
According to OCR, where reasonable modifications wnot permit students with disabilities to participate in
existing athletics programs, schools should work to cseparate or different programs.
Example: wheelchair basketball, etc.
OCR is encourages that schools take this step.
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Takeaways from the Letter
Primarily, OCR is signaling that it will set a high b
for schools to establish that they appropriatelyconducted their individualized determinations abrequested modifications.
OCR warns school districts not to rely on state at
conference requirements that run afoul of Sectioor other federal law.
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Takeaways from the Letter, continued
Funding is an important question.
In opining what school districts should be doing,
creating new equally-funded adaptive sports leagOCR walks the line of creating an unfunded fedemandate.
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Takeaways from the Letter, continued
OCRs position that these regulations supersede
rule of any association will likely be problematic application to students with physical disabilities,than mental disabilities.
Many sports rules are designed to ensure a playe
safety and should carefully considered beforeeliminated in an effort to accommodate student
physical disabilities.
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Takeaways from the Letter, continued
The letter discusses how that students with disa
need the opportunity to benefit from athletic pro
Does that mean to establish an affirmative obligon schools to enroll such students in one or morecurricular sports activities? Probably not, but un
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Preparing to Meet Expectations
Educate staff on uncertain, shifting legal standa
Stimulate and support inter-departmental collab
Form a review committee
Craft IEPs with precision
Explore new athletic options
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Proposed Case Study
Student who is diagnosed with autism has participated
and-field team, throwing in the shot put competition.
Disability is most apparent in social situations and wit
Behaviors that are exacerbated when he becomes anxduring transitional events, like riding a bus to a track aevent and when waiting with peers before his event.
With an adult nearby providing him directions and supable to appropriately wait for his event.
Thoughts?
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Contact Information
Jonathan Minear, J.D.
[email protected] 206-689-2161
Karen Kalzer, J.D.
206-689-2125
Cinda Johnson, Ed.D.
206-296-5888