From the New York Times:

Kendall Bailey, a 19-year-old breaststroker who has cerebral palsy and autism, qualified to represent the United States in the Beijing Paralympics this fall. But the U.S. Paralympics organization then formally requested that he be declared ineligible to compete because he has intellectual as well as physical disabilities — a request that was withdrawn after Connie Shaw, his mother strongly objected.

Mrs. Shaw has been left with questions similar to those of other parents who fight bureaucracies they think are interfering with their disabled children’s rights and dreams. Was U.S. Paralympics really trying to protect Kendall when it formally requested that he be rendered ineligible for the Beijing Games? Or did team officials file the appeal simply not wanting the distraction of handling a 6-foot-6-inch 19-year-old with an elementary-school mind and a nursery-school temperament?

Mrs. Shaw said she thinks the U.S. Olympic Committee was acting out of ignorance.

“Just because he has other issues, he’s been looked at in a whole different way that hasn’t been fair,” she said. “He’s been singled out and isolated because of his autism, because of his intellectual disability. If Kendall wasn’t autistic, would any of this have happened? Absolutely not.”

(New York Times photo)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 8:02 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, advocacy, autism, behavior, cerebral palsy, exercise/sports, families, general news. 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.  Email This Post