Wheelchair Racer Sues for HS Track Inclusion

she should be allowed to compete, but never on the same track as runners. one, its dangerous to both parties, two, it isn't competitive as she will destroy anyone (except maybe the 100 meters). she shouldn't be fighting to get on the same track as "able bodied athletes" (in my opinion anyone who is winning medals at any olympics is an able bodied athlete) she should be fighting to get more wheelchair only events/wheelchair racers and getting points for those events (i believe getting points for events was one of her lawsuits).

is there a rule that you have to be handicapped to compete in the wheelchair events? i'm sure there HAS to be other high school students who would give it a try (or would that be considered extremely bad by the handicapped racers?). or what about joe and jill jock who twisted an ankle or knee and can't currently compete in their event or sport (lots of leg injuries in football)? couldn't they compete in a wheelchair event, even if for only one season or one meet?

if the wheelchair events allowed "able bodied athletes" to join in and were worth point then i bet she would have racers at every meet and she would be welcomed on her team as she would be the best in the state. seems like her effort could have been better applied towards making these ideas possible rather than trying to be allowed to stomp some "able bodied athletes" into the ground in some races.

furthermore, how many students who are in wheelchairs might now be afraird of stepping up and trying to join the track team due to the negative reaction because of how she is going about this? if she put all of this energy towards reaching out to these hypothetical students and creating place for them to compete rather than trying to compete with "normal" athletes where she has supreme advantage how many more than 2 wheelchair racers would there be in the state?

so, i used to be a college runner (not a great one, of course) before being in a car accident and sustaining a spinal cord injury. now i'm a paraplegic (is it wrong of me to still read letsrun two years after not being able to run anymore?) i don't race at this point, and i agree that this girl shouldn't be allowed to compete on the same level as other high school track athletes - but think about this situation from her perspective for a second.

when she filed the suit she was a 16 year old girl. every 16 year girl wants to fit in and be known for something. she's a high schooler! she's not thinking about fair competition or not, she probably just wants to help her team and make friends. i know she's a paralympian who has competed at the highest levels of her sport, but there still is a sense of wanting to be included with your peers - and not always sent off to meets in another state where there's a handful of disabled athletes (and you have to wait for once a year for really high quality competition).

should kids with disabilities have to wait until they make it to college, and then go to a school like the university of illinois that has a large wheelchair sports program, to be a part of an athletic team comprised of their kids their own age?

Some people are just not meant to do certain things.

Should slower runners be given a head start because they are naturally slower than others?

Why does she event want to do this? She would easily win every race.

If i sprain my ankle can I race using a bike?

I couldn't agree more. Kids that are different, that aren't attractive etc, are outsiders in a high school. This kid is probably more isolated from her peers than the responders here could imagine.

Physical presence does not mean included. A life of physical challenges compounded by social isolation doesn't make create social causes. Inflexibility and an absence of any understaning of the kid, not the chair leads to lawsutis. I think the coaches and the league could have created a positive outcome by not having here compete, but by having her participate; to matter and to value her athleticism. Instead, it gets turned into a court case, far removed from what the kid probably wants most, a date, a trip to the mall with other kids, to be flirted with.

Looks like the the discussion has wound down... oh well...

My freshman year there was a wheelchair racer in Iowa who rolled 2:09 for the 800. Sadly, I ran in the JV section of a meet and ran 2:13 and got beat by him.