Right, this is why I said I wish that I had more details (about his attempts to talk with the coaches, about the school's policy to use the track, etc) and that it smells like discrimination (not that it IS discrimination). If he only sent an email and didn't use the resources (like a.camous ADA officer) available to him, then it's certainly not Purdue's fault that he isn't on the team or isn't able to use the facilities. But, the article and investigation is lacking, and I wish it wasn't. It's very possible the coaches at Purdue have no idea this athlete is on their campus. Emails go overlooked all the time. But, it could be that the email was ignored or unresponded to because the coaches didn't know how to support a student with a disability too or maybe just didn't want to deal with it. We will likely never know.
Legally blind runner clocks 3:50 1500 but college team rejects him
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disability discrimination? wrote:
Right, this is why I said I wish that I had more details (about his attempts to talk with the coaches, about the school's policy to use the track, etc) and that it smells like discrimination (not that it IS discrimination). If he only sent an email and didn't use the resources (like a.camous ADA officer) available to him, then it's certainly not Purdue's fault that he isn't on the team or isn't able to use the facilities. But, the article and investigation is lacking, and I wish it wasn't. It's very possible the coaches at Purdue have no idea this athlete is on their campus. Emails go overlooked all the time. But, it could be that the email was ignored or unresponded to because the coaches didn't know how to support a student with a disability too or maybe just didn't want to deal with it. We will likely never know.
So if we don't know all of this information why is step 1 a consideration of discrimination by the kid, Ken Stone and you?
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don't think it's discrimination, coach Oliver is just bad at scouting talent
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doubt it wrote:
don't think it's discrimination, coach Oliver is just bad at scouting talent
no, the focus is on cross country. he doesn't have mile/800 specialists on the team. they were 11th at NCAA XC in 2019.
trying to be an MD team in the big 10 is a losing battle. Good luck beating penn state, wisco, indiana, and michigan in the 800/1500. that has always been their specialty.
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Interesting topic: My guess is the athlete in question has a severe case of
Blue Cone Monochromacy where this impacts his ability to distinguish color, lack of acuity and he may suffer from nystagmus which is rapid eye movements back and forth. In order to be classified as legally blind, a person must have an acuity of 20/200 in their better eye or a field of vision of 20 degrees or less. Most people with Blue Cone Monochromacy have acuities of 20/100 or better, but there are cases where individuals have acuities of 20/200 or greater, however in my work with blind individuals the past 2 decades I have not seen this, but it is very possible and that maybe how he meets the criteria to compete in the Paralympics. Paralympics are amazing but you do have athletes competing against each other with varying degrees of impairments which IMO does not make it a level field like the Olympic games.31 -
There are some forms of color blindness (very rare, thankfully) that make it almost impossible for the individual to navigate in daylight, which is literally blinding for them. (Think what it's like when you leave a dark movie theater and go out into a sunny day. That's what it's like for them all the time.) That type is indeed a serious disability.
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Also causally mentioned in the article is that he is coached by Joachim Cruz
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you can even compete in the paralympics if you have autism, let alone color blind.
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A 350 runner can find a school to transfer to and run for, maybe even with a small athletic scholarship.
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Not An Expert wrote:
Lots of people rushing to pass judgment on another person’s disability in this thread…
Agree. I am sure if he was to start competing in the open men’s events and he caused a collision or someone to trip up he would be getting all sorts of judgement too. One of those can’t win scenarios.
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massive improvements wrote:
He ran 4:16 not even 2 months ago. That's a massive improvementAnyone know if the conditions were bad?
Had a friend that ran at this meet and it was very windy and fairly wet from what I remember. He definitely made a massive improvement as the conditions wouldn’t have caused him to lose 26 seconds.
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I remember this guy, I used to run against him in high school. He was pretty good, with 1:55/4:20 PRs, but idk if that's good enough to get a spot at Purdue.
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Bonkers wrote:
Are you allowed to compete in an open NCAA event with a T13 level impairment? The NCAA website says if you have a disability you can compete as long as your participation doesn't increase the risk of injury to others. I'm wondering where they draw the line on that.
Seems like a stretch if that’s the case. Who knows how many times this guy contacted the coach. They briefly mention it in the story. For all we know, he could have sent the coach one email. Coach might of missed it or forgot about it. Might not even know he exists
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Wow! I was so shocked to see this thread. I can say that just by chance, when I started my running journey back in about 2017-18 era, and I was popping out many an 11-min miles, the local track in San Diego that I would run with some buddies at, Joel would come there and train all the time while we were on the track. He was a great guy, even back then at 13 years old. Hard worker, great humble attitude. I am so happy to see him still having great success. Keep up the great work Joel, you're killing it!
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35 mph wind with 50 mph gusts
Most people were about 15 seconds slower per mile in both the 800 and 1500
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I met him at another track, we were both doing workouts. I didn’t know who he was. I’m an old guy, but he was nice, friendly, was working hard, on his own.
He does not control the story written, what the article emphasizes or implies. But he has improved a lot since high school- obviously a committed athlete who was nice to a random old guy who started talking to him at a high school track. So I wish him the best for sure.
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Not An Expert wrote:
Lots of people rushing to pass judgment on another person’s disability in this thread…
Yup. Pathetic.
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