If my kid can't play, can't nobody's kid play!

 

Look for school districts to begin eliminating some of their sports programs. Our goofball Department of Education has decreed that disabled kids cannot be denied spots on sports teams in schools. If the schools can't change the rules to accommodate the kids, then they have to provide leagues for the disabled kids. So what if only one kid in a wheelchair wants to play football? The school has to provide a team that has "comparable standing as mainstream programs" for him to play on, even if he's the only one. How dumb is that?

 

Of course, disability advocates are jumping on the bandwagon. A GAO study from 2010 showed that students with disabilities participated in athletics at consistently lower rates than those without. Well, duh!!! Wonder how much we paid for that study?

 

Dale, a high school student who is blind, lauded the change. He said the accommodation allowed him to have equal access and opportunity. He participated in his school's wrestling program -- but they made his opponent keep in physical contact with him at all times during matches. I don't know much about wrestling, but from what I have watched, evading holds seems to be an integral part of the sport. Equal access and opportunity? I disagree . . . Dale was given an advantage over his opponent. I happen to be terribly uncoordinated and have very little stamina due to a medical condition. When I was a kid, I desperately wanted to play tennis, but I was eliminated pretty quickly in the tryouts. I guess I should have filed a lawsuit. They could have changed the rules so that my opponent had to hit the ball within two feet of me so I wouldn't have to run so much. And she shouldn't have been allowed to hit it hard, because I didn't have the muscle strength to return a hard-hit ball. And I shouldn't have had to do backhand returns, either!

 

Another example is Casey. He wants to be on the track team. He's confined to a wheelchair. Current rules require him to race on his own (in a racing wheelchair), but he's hoping the new rules will allow him to race against "kids at my level." People on legs racing against wheelchairs? That's not "level" competition unless you make all the non-crippled competitors get racing wheelchairs, too. The next thing you know, Casey will be complaining that he should be allowed to put a motor on his wheelchair.

 

According to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, "Sports can provide invaluable lessons in discipline, selflessness . . ." Obviously, these people need some lessons in selflessness. How selfish is it to drag down a whole team and make them change the rules just for you?

 

"Disabled gain right to sports." The Dallas Morning News; January 25, 2013; p. 1A.