Setting a standard for the rest of the country, Maryland has broken down barriers for students with disabilities, giving every child the chance to get active and enjoy sports.
By Terri Lakowski
On Monday, April 7, the Maryland General Assembly passed the Fitness and Athletics Equity for Students with Disabilities Act, a landmark piece of legislation regarding the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in physical education and athletic programs. This legislation represents the culmination of a strategic public policy initiative of the Women’s Sports Foundation, which began more than two years ago when the Foundation received a phone call that forever changed the course of history for students with disabilities.
Lauren Young, Legal Director for the Maryland Disability Law Center, and Deborah McFadden, mother of Tatyana McFadden, a Paralympic medal winner and world record holder, contacted the Foundation’s Advocacy Department for advice concerning their lawsuit against Atholton High School. Tatyana wanted to compete on the same track, at the same time, with her teammates at Atholton High School in Howard County. Instead of allowing her to be part of a team, she was forced to participate alone on the track in a segregated manner because of her disability.
Seems like deja vu. Just 35 years ago, prior to the passage of Title IX, schools were engaging in the same discriminatory treatment towards all female athletes—slamming the doors of opportunity in young girls’ faces for no other reason than because they were female. Now, history was repeating itself; the doors of opportunity were being slammed shut in the face of a young female athlete, but for a different reason—because she has a disability.
Recognizing this parallel, the Foundation worked with the Maryland Disability Law Center and other experts to devise strategies that ultimately forced the courts to grant an injunction allowing Tatyana to compete on the track at the same time with her colleagues. However, at the state championships, after a race in which Tatyana ran alongside her teammates, the state officials accused Tatyana of “pacing” her teammate, which caused the actual winner of the race, Alison Smith, to be disqualified. The resulting disqualification caused Atholton to lose the state championship.
It was at this moment that the Foundation recognized the need for comprehensive change. Tatyana’s case did not represent one isolated incident of discrimination, but was part of a culture of exclusion and discrimination against individuals with disabilities within school systems.
This culture explains the following facts:
- Individuals with disabilities are almost three times as likely to be sedentary as individuals without disabilities;
- Neither the National Federation of State High School Associations nor the NCAA officially sanctions any intercollegiate or interscholastic program, event, or competition for individuals with disabilities.
- Drawing on its vast experience and expertise with Title IX and gender equity, the Foundation identified the key barrier to the inclusion of students with disabilities in physical education and athletic programs—the absence of clear policy guidelines or legislation.
Unlike Title IX, which has clear and specific regulations and policy guidelines detailing schools’ obligations to provide equitable athletic opportunities and resources to female athletes, specific regulations or guidelines detailing schools’ obligations to provide equitable athletic opportunities and resources to athletes with disabilities do not exist under the Rehabilitation Act (Rehab Act) or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). While both statutes clearly prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability, without specific guidelines detailing what specific actions schools must take to ensure athletic and physical activity equity for individuals with disabilities, discrimination and exclusion continues.
To solve this problem, the Foundation embarked on an initiative to develop and implement legislation to prevent situations like Tatyana’s from occurring.
The Foundation chose Maryland as the first test state for the new legislation, given the public awareness of discrimination against students with disabilities Tatyana’s case created. Under the leadership of the Foundation and the Maryland Disability Law Center, the Fitness and Athletics Equity for Students with Disabilities Act successfully passed the Maryland General Assembly on April 7.
This Act is a landmark piece of legislation that, for the first time, specifies the actions school systems must take to include students with disabilities in physical education and athletic programs. The bill requires that schools ensure that students with disabilities have equal opportunities to participate in physical education and athletic programs, develop policies and procedures to promote and protect the inclusion of students with disabilities, and provide annual reporting to the Maryland State Department of Education detailing their compliance with these requirements.
However, while we have won an important match in Maryland, the set is not yet complete. The lack of opportunities for students with disabilities in school physical activity programs is not isolated to Maryland. To fully eradicate this issue and ensure that individuals with disabilities see the same growth in participation as female athletes did under Title IX, the Foundation will continue working diligently to ensure that other states and the federal government follow Maryland’s lead and adopt the Fitness and Athletics Equity for Students with Disabilities Act.
You can help! To support efforts in other states the Foundation is collecting stories from individuals with disabilities regarding their experiences in school physical activity programs. Tell us your story!