Students with Disabilities in Extracurricular Athletics - Essay Example

with Disabilities in Extracurricular Athletics Introduction According to the USA Government Accountability Office report, there is a lapse with regard to how students with disability are being given opportunities to participate in the extracurricular activities. The problem with this is that extracurricular activities are important for the students with regard to their emotional and even physiological health. This applies to both students with disability and those without disability (United States Department Of Education Office For Civil Rights, 2013). Denying students with disability the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities is denying them the same opportunities as the other students to grow emotionally and to develop social skills such as leadership skills. Additionally, it puts them at a higher risk to be physically and physiologically unhealthy than the other students. This implies that they are likely to have heath issues that arise from not having physical activity such as diabetes, obesity and heart complications. To deal this discrepancy, the GAO recommends that the United States Department of Education Clarify and communicate the roles and responsibilities for enforcing section 504 of the rehabilitation Act of 1973. GAO explains that the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has the responsibility of enforcing the section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a federal law and is geared towards protecting individuals with disabilities in all types of schools, private and public. As a result, the GAO reports the implementation of section 504 is not a choice for the OCR and must be implemented strictly as it has to deal with serious human rights issues. Section 504 first of all requires the schools to provide to the students with disability facilities that are similar or equivalent to the facilities that the students who do not have any disability have. To begin with, it rewires that every school district should have a committee made of experts and professionals who understand various disability issues including mental and emotional disabilities. These members of such a committee should also have a clear understanding of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 especially section 504. They must also have a more understanding of the procedures of classifying various disabilities. This is necessary in order to make sure that the students are not wrongly classified and therefore have them to end up in the wrong groups. In this regard, schools are supposed to be very careful not only in the ways they treat students with disability but also in the way they treat the classification of these students. This is because some disabilities are not too obvious and it is possible for student who is not disables to be classified as disables and so limit the kinds of things that he or she can achieve. Additionally, it is possible that if professionalism is not applied meticulously, some disabled students will be classified as not disabled and this will definitely be affected in a negative way because the students will not be accorded the help he or she needs in order to overcome the disability. Furthermore, it is also possible for a student with disability to be classified in the wrong disability and this will have the dame negative effect as classifying a student with disability with those who do not have disability. To aid in avoiding this, it is necessary for the schools to make sure that even the parents of the students with disability are included in the process of classification (Morgan, 2013). It is also recommended that any disputes are resolved as early as possible in order to make sure that the issues that these students are going to be sorted as early as possible and that these students can have the support they need. With regard to having facilities in the school, the schools are also required to have facilities that suit the students with disability. For instance, they are supposed to have classes that are easily accessible by students who have physical disability. They are also required to change or modify the curriculum in taking care of these with intellectual disability. The ADA also identifies the deification of a person with disability and includes the fact that the person should have a physical or mental impairment that significantly bars him or her from one or various life activities. Secondly, the person may have record of such impairment or they may be regarded as having such impairment. The definition of a disability has been revised a number of times and has included other forms of disabilities including other issues that were not in the original definition. These definitions should be considered when thinking about offering these students with an opportunity to participate in the extracurricular activities. The school must be able to identify the students who qualify to be classified as students with disability and who also can participate in the extracurricular activities. It is also good to note that just because a student sis classified as a student with disability does not necessarily mean that the student can be allowed t participate in any extracurricular activities, especially the ones that are physically involving and which may endanger the health or even life of the student. Section 504 prohibits schools and teachers from denying students with disabilities the opportunity to get aid, benefit, or service that the student could get. It also prohibits the schools from denying the qualified students any opportunity that is afforded to other students on basis of his or her disability. It is not just affording the students with the opportunity, aid or benefit, the schools must also be careful to ensure that the aid or opportunity that is afforded to the student does not fail to meet the required quality and it must be proven to have the capacity to help the students to achieve the same outcomes as the other students. Furthermore, the school must also be careful to avoid providing this and that is intended to students with disability with the aid that is not required for them. Schools must also be careful in making sure that the qualified students are treated equal among them. This means that section 504 is not just geared towards achieving equity between the students with disability and those without disability, it is also geared towards making sure that the same equality is achieved among the students with disability. Schools must also have grievance procedures that help in solving any issues associated with students with disability. This is because many issues come with regard to grievances. For instance, while it is clear that preventing these students from participating in extracurricular activities may prevent them from gaining the benefits of doing so, it is also clear that failure to resolve issues relating to their status as students with disability may give them emotional distress thus making them at an even bigger disadvantage. As a result, having a grievance procedure in all schools which is managed by a range of professionals is also necessary as a part of making sure that the students with disability are well taken care of. It important to understand the obligation to observe the provisions and requirements of section 504 supersedes any of their regulations rules including the rule of any of association such as the associations that manage collegiate athletics. As a result, the schools should not use the rules in the associations such as NBA to deny a qualified student with disability the right to participate the in extracurricular activities. In this regard, schools and school districts are supposed to notice that with regard to the context of school, extracurricular activities are not just an economic activity but they are educational needs to be provided to any student regardless of their disability statistics, just like any other educational needs such as curricular requirements. The need for the school districts to make sure that they are not caught up failing to conform to section 504, they can works with their athletic associations in order to make sure that the students with disabilities are considered and given the opportunities that are due to them according to sections 504. Furthermore, school districts must avoid working on generations and stereotypes. They should avoid generalizations, assumptions, prejudices, or stereotypes when dealing with students with disability and this means that they should not have assumptions about certain people with certain disabilities with regard to what these people can do. This goes back to these school districts using professional advice in order to help in understanding the needs of these students so that there are no misunderstandings. Ensure Equal Opportunity for Participation School districts should also seek to provide equal opportunity to all students regardless of their disability status. To have this, it would be important for the school districts to make sure that they go to extra lengths to modify their facilities and resources in order to aid the students with disability to be able to participate just as well as the others without disability. However, if the school district feel that this would lead to a fundamental modifications of their program to the point of it losing meaning or affecting the other students in a negative way, they can choose not to modify their facilities and but would have to have a good justifications. Again, in this case, the school districts would have to use the advice and pinion of experts so as to guarantee that they are not working on assumptions and prejudice. It would be necessary to make sure that every student is treated individually. When dealing with this issue, schools and school districts should avoid the temptation to consider the illusion that section 504 should only be observed when there are a significant number of qualified students. For instance, with regard to the issue of modifying the facilities to suit students with disability, schools and school districts should not consider to do this when there are many qualified students with disability. They should also consider doing the modification even when it is just one or very few qualified students with disability. in doing the modifications, the school districts must consider whether this will introduce safety issues to the students with disability who are supposed to participate in the activities. Safety is paramount because section 504 also requires that if such provisions are to be provided to the qualified students, they must also be done in such a way that guarantees that the student is given the same opportunity as the other students. In this regard, doing these modifications in order to allow the students with disability to participate in the extracurricular activities must be done with safety in light of safety issues. This means that not all students should be allowed to participate on all types of extracurricular activities. The whole point of section 504 is not to ensure that all students with disability participate in extracurricular activity, but it is to ensure that for those who have a chance, that is, qualify, they are not denied this opportunity just because they have one or other form of disability. Offering Separate or Different Athletic Opportunities In some instances, the school districts may need to provide separate opportunities for students with extracurricular activities, this must however be done in caution. Although in some instances this would be more beneficial to the students with disability in cases where it is highly impossible or even very difficult to include them in extracurricular activities, doing this unnecessarily is also considered to be discriminatory. With the trend in the USA being that students with disabilities should be co educated with the others who do not have any disabilities, it is necessary for these students to be incorporated together with the others not only in the classroom but also in the other education activities. It is necessary to remember that within the context of the school. The school district must work with a committee of experts to determine whether it may be more beneficial to have separate opportunities for the students with disabilities or it would be better for them to be incorporated with the rest of the students. Again, in doing this, any assumptions must be avoided at all cost in order to makes sure that whatever decision is made can be supported and will not be in contravention with section 504. However, with regard to offering separate opportunities, it is necessary to make sure that students who cannot be able to participate in the extra curriculum activities of the school district should be given parallel activities to help them to gain the same benefits of these extra curriculum activities. In such a case, it might be very important to provide parallel opportunities for these students and this would not be in violation of section 504. Intentions One thing to note with such a sensitive issue as how to deal with people with disability is that those involved may do things that are done in the best on intentions but still lead to the wring results. In dealing with this issue, school districts, schools and especially school staff must be able to make sure of the following things; Intentions are not the same as results Most of the time, the schools and the staff in particular may try to do what they think is good only to find it is the wrong way. Officials in the school district must be careful in order to make sure that they do not get into trouble with regard to contravening section 504. More so, apart from keeping from trouble for violating section 504, it is also necessary to make sure that that their actions are not only in the best interest of the students but also that they are effective in supporting these students. The dynamics can be many and varied and therefore there is a need to use the help of experts and to make sure that nothing is being taken for granted. It can be completely difficult to implement the requirement of section 504. Of importance therefore for those involved to note is the fact that intentions are not the same as results. Teachers and other staff should therefore not take the role of experts in deciding the right action to take when in a situation like this because in so doing, they may end up doing the wrong thing even when they have the best of intentions. Results are not the same as complying As a result, it is important to note that sometimes what the school thinks to be the one thing that works may be the one thing that will make them to be in conflict with the requirements of the 504 section. In such a case, it is necessary for the school to try and have the best balance between the need to conform to the law and to make sure that the law is not hindering their ability to give the best opportunity to succeed and have a good education. The schools should also work with legislators to suggest any changes that may need to be made in order to enure that the law is not inhibiting the way in which these students should be served. The American education system has been criticized over and over with regard to its ability to achieve the very purpose of which it is intended, that is, to offer the best chances for the students to succeed. In consideration of this, there is a chance that some of the provisions of the 504 section may not be effective and the school may find itself in a situation where it has to conform to section 504 and fail to assist these students or to contravene the provisions and help the students. Therefore, it is crucial for the school districts to be very careful about this issue. OCR works with the various stakeholders such as parents athletic associations and school districts in order to ensure that these students are taken care of and that they get the same opportunities as the other students. In this regard, the OCR is a good resource for the school districts to make sure that they are not violating section 504. However, of most important, it is necessary for school districts to make sure that they are not implementing section 504 just to comply with the requirements but to make sure that the schools are providing the students with the best opportunities to succeed, regardless of whether they have disability. Schools are mandated to prepare students for success and this success should be achieved by the students bit at school and after school. Moreover, these opportunities should be given to all students regardless of whether they have disabilities or not. In a nutshell, the spirit and letter of section 504 is to make sure that students who may have disabilities are given the same opportunities as the other students who do not have any disability. In this regard, it is always about making sure that the students who have disability are able given the best opportunity for success in their extracurricular as well as their curricular activities. In this regard, creating awareness among the teaching staff, the athletics staff and the other students with regard to helping these students is also another part of the effort to help the students with disability to have the best chances and for them to have a schooling experience that is as good as the other students. The idea is to also same sure that the students do not end up feeling that they are secondary with regard to the way the education system regard them. They must be able to feel that they are just as important as the others. Taking care of their needs both emotionally and also with regard to their specific disability is necessary. By giving them the same opportunities and showing them that they can be a primary part of the school system is impart also in terms of boosting their emotional confidence. This is why section 504 also emphasis that as much as it is possible, these students should not be given completely separate facilities because this will make them feel that they are just an appendage to the school and not a part of the education system. References: Morgan, P. (2013). No Child Left; Ethletis for Students with Dissabilities. New York, NY: Pearson Education Books. United States Department Of Education Office For Civil Rights. (2013). Report , 1-03. Read More