Letting everyone in the pool
by Beth
It hurts to hear any story of discrimination against a person with a disability. When the discrimination is occurring right in your backyard, it’s especially painful.
A federal lawsuit filed this week by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan claims the Illinois High School Association (IHSA)is violating the rights of students with disabilities by not allowing them to compete in state athletic events.
The story of a high school junior who is paralyzed from the waist down and hopes to participate in the state’s swimming competition next school year has brought a lot of attention to the lawsuit. Sixteen-year-old Kate Callahan asked the IHSA, which regulates state high school athletic events, to establish a scoring system and accommodations that would allow students with disabilities to participate competitively in the track and swimming state finals. A Chicago Tribune story quotes Alan Goldstein, an attorney with Chicago-based Equip for Equity, saying that “close to half of the country is ahead of Illinois” when it comes to adopting policies aimed at making competition more inclusive for students with disabilities. Attorney General Madigan concurred:
“Every student athlete should have a chance to compete, including athletes with disabilities,” Madigan said in a statement Wednesday. “Many other states give student athletes with disabilities the opportunity to compete. Students in Illinois should have the same chance.”
It’s downright embarassing to think a lawsuit is necessary to make this happen in the state I live in. but in this case, I’m glad our attorney general went ahead and filed.