Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education Inc. Lectures by Michael Horvat Leonard Kalakian Ron Croce Virginia Dahlstrom Chapter 24 Sport for Persons With Disabilities.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education Inc.

Lectures by

Michael Horvat

Leonard Kalakian

Ron Croce

Virginia Dahlstrom

Chapter 24Sport for Persons With

Disabilities

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education Inc. Developmental/Adapted Physical Education 5e

Case Study

Danny is a fourteen year old high school freshman. He loves football and has always aspired to play on a high school football team. This semester, Danny is trying out to play on his school’s junior varsity team. Danny has only one kidney. While it enables renal functions within normal parameters, the coach, high school principal, and school board believe that Danny should not be allowed to participate in any heavy contact sport given the possibility of serious injury to his remaining kidney.

The school offers a range of sports in which Danny can compete, which offer virtually no prospect of kidney injury. School officials argue that they are exercising their legal obligation to protect Danny from injury, but his parents disagree. Their argument is that Danny has more than adequate sports ability and is also a very good student, and that they only reason he is being denied is because of his condition. To support their argument, Danny cannot be legally denied to participate due purely to his disability (Section 504 of the Disability Act). If unresolved, his parents will take their case to the State High School League and, if necessary, to court. The Paralympic Games are a good example with which to support their case.


Sir Ludwig Guttman

• The beginnings of the movement (physical activities initiatives for persons with a range of disabilities) occurred with the rehabilitation of soldiers during WWII.

• Sir Ludwig Guttman is known as “pappa” or “father” of wheelchair sports.

• In 1944 the British government commissioned Guttman to establish and direct a spinal injuries care unit for WWII veterans.

• Patients engaged in a variety of activities including punch ball, darts, archery, and table tennis.


Paralympic Games

• Paralympic Games include athletes with the following disabilities:• Amputation• Cerebral palsy• Intellectual disability• Spinal cord injuries• Visual impairments• Les autres (athletes affected by a range of conditions

that fall into the categories above.


Figure 24.1


Why Sports for Persons With Disabilities?

Historically, participation in sport among persons with disabilities has been promoted for, at least three, important and enduringly valuable reasons:

1. Using sports as rehabilitation therapy for arthritis, cerebral palsy, chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, heart disease, muscular dystrophy, amputations, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, depression, and behavior disorders. (Figure 24.2)

2. Having sports as an opportunity to have, and socialize through, normalizing life experiences. Sports teach cooperation to achieve common goals. They teach leadership, teamwork, and ethics.

3. Being involved in a sport for sport’s sake. The pursuit of athletic excellence, bound only by the potential to achieve, becomes the primary driving motivation to participate.


Figure 24.2


Sport Development and Competition Opportunities Sports and health-promoting physical activity “givens”:

• Sport can be a metaphor for a life well-lived.• A good sport and an ethical person are one and the same.• Interest in sports is woven into the mainstream of social dynamics.• Activity across the lifespan, sensibly approached, is enduringly,

holistically, spiritually, and emotionally health-promoting.

Participation in youth sports and physical activities can become enduringly beneficial across the lifespan for students with and without disabilities for whom participation in traditional programs may not be equitable. Perpetuating the value of active lifestyles in the lives of young people as they evolve throughout childhood and adolescence is extremely valuable. However, students with disabilities are overwhelmingly underrepresented in the world of youth sport. Hopefully in the near future, this will be changing.


Sport Organizations

Opportunities for Disabled Students: Several organizations offer skill development and competition opportunities for students, as well as disabled adults. BlazeSports: Provides sports training competitions, summer

camps, and recreational opportunities for youth and adults with spinal cord injury, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, muscular dystrophy, amputation, visual impairment or blindness, as well as other physical disabilities. BlazeSports operates in partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association.

Wheelchair Sports USA’s (WSUSA): Sports and recreation opportunities for people with physical and visual disabilities by facilitating, advocating, and developing a national community-based outreach program. Program provides resources and education, conducts regional and national competitions, and provides access to international competitions. WSUSA sponsors the following sports: archery, track and field, billiards, shooting, swimming, table tennis, and weightlifting.


Sport Organizations

Disabled Sports/USA (DS/USA): Participants include persons with visual impairments, amputations, spinal cord injury, dwarfism, multiple sclerosis, head injury, cerebral palsy, and a range of neuromuscular and orthopedic conditions. DS/USA sponsors the following sports: golf, hiking, hunting and fishing, Nordic skiing, water sports, running, sailing, snowboarding, strength training, surfing, Tai Chi, tennis, waterskiing, and yoga. Sponsor a mentoring program for youths with disabilities.

The National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA): Founded as a spinal cord injury organization, athletes with a range of physical and orthopedic disabilities are qualified. Athletes become available when the nature of the athlete’s ability, irrespective of diagnosis, is such that it prevents them from meaningful participation in stand-up basketball. Competitions include women’s, men’s, and junior teams.


Sport Organizations

University of Illinois: Founders of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, the university offers summer sports camps in track and field, and basketball for youths using wheelchairs who want to fine tune their fundamental and advanced wheelchair basketball skills. Additionally, “elite” athletic camps are offered on an invitation only basis

Special Olympics: While this is not the oldest sport organization for persons with disabilities, it is the most widely known. Today, there are more than 2.5 million athletes from more than 180 countries. The Special Olympics currently offers participation opportunities in 34 different sports.


Sport Organizations

Courage Center: This organization provides sport development opportunities for youth and adults with disabilities. (Figure 24.3) Offers year round sport development camps including recreational sports, power soccer camp, and Paralympics sport sessions. Activities include Alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, archery, basketball, curling, dog sledding, fitness training, ice fishing, martial arts, quad rugby, sled hockey, skating, mono-ski camp, tennis, archery, golf, biking, handcycling, horseback riding, kayaking, rock climbing, sailing, scuba, softball, swim team, tennis, track and field, and waterskiing.

United States Association for Blind Athletes (USABA): As a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, the association has reached more than 100,000 blind individuals through its services including: track and field, cycling, goalball, judo, powerlifting, showdown, skiing, swimming, bowling, wrestling, and 5-side football.


Figure 24.3


Sport Organizations

National Beep Basketball Association (NBBA): Played by athletes who are blind. Games last six innings and include two bases that buzz. Object of the game is for the batter to run and contact the buzzing base before an opposing team fielder can cleanly field the beeping ball.

National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD): Began as a one-time ski lesson for children with amputations. Today, NSCD serves persons with a wide range of disabilities including.

Dwarf Athletic Association of America (DAAA): Dwarfism is a general descriptor for a range of conditions that result in dwarfed stature. Events are offered in four divisions beginning with “Future” to “Master.” Events include: track and field, swimming, boccia, soccer, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, and powerlifting.


Athletic Classification Systems

Medical classification systems: designed to determine the degree which a medical condition that causes disability (spinal injury) impact a person’s ability to perform. Designed to help determine an individual’s residual mobility. (Table 24.1)

Examples of medical classification systems are those that classify athletes who are blind or visually impaired.

Classification systems can be complex and listing of specifics of classification systems across the sport for persons with disabilities transcends the scope of definitions.


Athlete Classification Systems

Functional classifications systems focus not on the medical condition, but rather observe what functional abilities athletes have in their specific sport. Focus on the individual’s ability to focus on the task at hand. (Table 24.2) Can be used both for single disability and cross-disability competitions.

Two distinct benefits of functional classification: 1. within any given disability category, same disability category

athletes can be grouped by available physical function.2. individual participants who present with different or multiple

disabilities, provided their sport-specific ability and skill level is closely matched, can compete equitable irrespective of disability type.


Participation: Integrated or Separated?

The Federal Rehabilitation Act, Section 504, applies to public schools and public community-based organizations. The federal regulations require that

1. students with disabilities cannot be denied opportunities to participate in regular athletic programs based on disability alone and

2. segregated programs may be offered to athletes with disabilities only when lack of ability to safely and successfully participate in a regular sports program, or a legitimately disqualifying medical condition, not simply disability alone, disqualifies them from integration into the regular program.


Participation: Integrated or Separated?

Sometimes the issues are not that simple and individual factors need to be considered:• Athletes who are deaf may not be able to hear the coach’s

instructions.

• Students with a hard prosthesis may be putting other players at risk.

• A student with only one kidney should be taken into consideration.

• An athlete who does not meet the academic performance required to participate in sports, regardless of a disability should be considered.


Adapted Athletics and State High School Leagues

• While community-based competitive athletic competitions for athletes with disabilities are offered in a number of states, relatively few opportunities presently are offered under the auspices of state high school leagues.

• The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) allows athletes to participate in adapted events in one of two divisions: physically impaired or cognitively impaired.

• Sports in each division include bowling, floor hockey, soccer, and softball.

• Georgia founded the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs (AAASP). Strives to promote interscholastic competition for athletes who use wheelchairs, are blind, or visually impaired.


Learning Activity

Find out where adapted athletic activities are offered in your area. Select an athletic activity event to attend; if possible, attend adapted athletic events for children, adolescents, and adults. Write a brief synopsis of the event. Did the event meet or exceed your expectations? What did you learn from the event?

Once you have attended a few events, consider volunteering to help out at events.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education Inc. Lectures by Michael Horvat Leonard Kalakian Ron Croce Virginia Dahlstrom Chapter 24 Sport for Persons With Disabilities.

Documents

pearson education

physical disabilities

disabilities slide

youth sports

range of sports

sports sake

e sport development

good sport