Urges legislators to allow students with disabilities to compete alongside typical peers

From the Baltimore Sun:

Tatyana McFadden, an internationally recognized Paralympic athlete, is lobbying lawmakers in Annapolis to ensure that athletes with disabilities can compete alongside their non-disabled peers.

McFadden, a high school senior who earlier sued for the right to share the track with her classmates in Howard County, told a Senate committee that “no student should have to fight to be accepted in high school.”

McFadden was among those who spoke in favor of a bill that would require schools to allow athletes with disabilities to play wheelchair basketball or tennis, to swim or to otherwise play sports among themselves or side-by-side with able-bodied students.

Sen. Jim Rosapepe, a Prince George’s County Democrat who is sponsoring the legislation, said schools need a statewide approach.

… The State Department of Education opposes the legislation because it would require school systems to pay for additional employees – at an estimated cost of $2.8 million statewide – to ensure that the systems are in compliance.

… McFadden was born with spina bifida. In 2004, she won two medals in track at the Paralympics in Athens, Greece.

Earlier stories:

• After legal wrangle, teen wheelchair racer competes against peers (USA Today)
• McFadden hopes to add more medals; Wheelchair athlete to compete in Europe (Washington Post)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 11:08 am and is filed under accessibility, exercise/sports, funding, NOT2BEMISSED, spina bifida, wheelchair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.