disability discrimination
Disability discrimination occurs when a person with a disability is treated less favorably than another person without a disability. If you or someone you know has experienced disability discrimination, you should seek help from a law firm that specializes in this area of the law. Disability discrimination claims can be filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), state or city human rights agencies, and many other agencies responsible for enforcing non-discriminatory laws.
Whether you have been denied access to a restaurant, sports venue or other public accommodations, or you have been excluded from participation in an extracurricular activity, club or school sport, you may be able to file a disability discrimination lawsuit against the entity that violated your civil rights. Although students with disabilities gained equal rights to extracurricular activities like school sports more than 50 years ago, many disabled children are sidelined or never given the chance to participate in their favorite sport.
A coach may have legitimate reasons for denying a child with a disability the opportunity to play, such as a lack of skills, bad team chemistry or other performance-based criteria. However, if the reason for the denial is the child’s disability, it could constitute disability discrimination under the Rehabilitation Act. A coach may also be engaging in disability discrimination if he or she imposes unreasonable limitations on a student athlete’s ability to compete in an extracurricular activity.
Can disability discrimination happen in sports?
For example, if a coach refuses to allow a student athlete with a physical disfigurement to compete in a particular sport because he or she cannot meet the requirement for 70 percent school attendance, this would be a violation of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. Similarly, if a student with a disability is excluded from a team because the coach refuses to allow him or her to have a sign language interpreter nearby during the competition, this would be a violation of the same law.
The social model of disability law looks at the overall structures and rules of an activity and how they may be adapted to accommodate a person with a disability. This is a broader way of thinking about disability than the legalistic approach that has often been used in court cases involving disabled people. For example, the social model of disability law looks at how a person’s cultural or social attitudes about the meaning of disability influence how those attitudes might impact the way that the legal system treats people with disabilities.
This is an important aspect of the disability discrimination law that could be leveraged to change the attitudes and practices in the sports world that cause segregation and denial of opportunities to children with disabilities. This is known as systems thinking. For more information about disability discrimination in sports, contact a law firm that specializes in these cases. They can advise you on the best way to file a lawsuit. Many people choose to file their disability discrimination claims with the EEOC or New York state and city civil rights offices.
