Posted on 01/26/2013 7:59:57 AM PST by servo1969
School districts that do not provide deaf students "a visual cue" alongside a starter pistol to enable them to compete on the track team or create basketball and tennis leagues for students in wheelchairs will be in violation of federal law and could lose government funding.
On Friday, the Obama administration declared disabled students "have the right" to "an equal opportunity to participate in their schools' extracurricular activities." In essence, the Obama administration established the right for disabled students to play wheelchair basketball or wheelchair tennis.
The U.S. Department of Education sent a guidance letter to schools, school districts, and universities informing them of the new mandate, which noted that 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."
Seth Galanter, the Departments Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, said the Departments Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will enforce Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. He specifically noted that the Act was a federal law designed to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in programs and activities (including traditional public schools and charter schools) that receive Federal financial assistance.
If school districts and universities do not provide accommodations the OCR deems sufficient, they could lose federal funding. The mandate is being compared to Title IX, which deemed that no person should be excluded on the basis of sex from participation in, "denied the benefits of," or "subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
If it was up to me, I’d just say “screw it” and tell the feds to keep their money.
I heard one of the parents of these special children say it will make the kids feel included.
Well, there are millions of kids who don't make the team....millions....so should we have another team for them??
Paging “ Harrison Bergeron” its your turn to play
What men’s sports will get cut now?
Just wait until they are deemed ready for combat - you know “fairness”.
Wheelchair tennis???
Do you make the ball bounce slower or something?
This is stupid.
What a great way to get the feds out of your schools, tho!
I believe this just the beginning.
The next four years are gonna be a Progressive cluster to get as much wackiness as possible carved in stone.
Like monkeys f-ing a football.
Here’s the tune I keep hearing in my head every time something asinine like this comes up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B0CyOAO8y0
What else? Wheelchair Tennis? Wheelchair Cheerleaders? Deaf Cheerleaders? Wheelchair Baseball?
I can hardly wait for the results of the first all-blind archery tournament.
That’s the appropriate thing to do, but that won’t happen.
For that ‘touch of masochism’ in all of us, it is worth staying alive to see what this bunch of ‘feel good idiots’ can come up with next.
There were only 8 million stories in the ‘Naked City’, but when he gets around to doing something for ‘me and thee’ it will be up to 300 million stories in the naked country.
I would say that this is absolutely the dumbest single idea they have come up with BUT would just have to repeat myself in the next day or so.
Back in the 70’s some hippies/yuppies proposed diapers on ALL animals - domestic, wild etc etc. Look for that to come back’
This is not their money, it's our money. They tax you then they make you do whatever they want in order to get your own money back.
There was a deaf competitor on my daughter’s swim team years ago, and what the school did was have a hearing teammate stand behind him and when the start buzzer went off, she tapped his ankle. It worked very well, brought a tear to my eye (as I’m all-but-deaf too), and didn’t cost the school a penny to implement.
It’s a tough issue. I have one daughter that has a brain injury. She is very smart, but she is uncoordinated and has speech problems.
She is not good enough to be in any after school activity.
It’s very frustrating!!!
Then my other daughter was just diagnosed with a focal dystonia, a movement disorder, and she is now considered disabled. It causes cramping and uncontrollable movements in her left hand (she’s a lefty) when she writes, plays the flute (she was a very, very, very good musician),, types, or other repetitive hand movements.
It just started a year ago. She was supposed to march in the Rose Bowl Parade with her band, but she couldn’t play her flute. It seems like they could have figured out something for her to do.
My daughter with dystonia is switching to theater and singing, so she at least is finding something to do.
My other daughter has no after school activities, and she is lonely.
I don’t know what the solution is, but it’s hard having a kid that doesn’t have many friends.
What do you call a kid with no arms and legs who plays baseball?.......Third base...
It’s a joke people! Like our fearless leader!
At my sons’ private boy school there was a wonderful young man who suffered a serious disability. Could not play sports: so he was team manager, and very much a part.
Look for alternatives. It is part of the pain, but the reward is so much deeper than what the typical kids’ accomplishments bring.
“I can hardly wait for the results of the first all-blind archery tournament.”
We had a blind guy on the darts team when I was overseas. One of the other guys would tap on the target where he needed to aim (and then get the heck out of the way!).
Maybe he can set it up so that I can play in the NBA. I’m 55 years old and 5’10”. Is that a problem?
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