PRESS RELEASE
May 16, 2012
Illinois Attorney General Office
Chicago – Attorney General Lisa Madigan, with Equip for Equality and a 16-year-old high school student from La Grange, today filed a joint lawsuit against the nonprofit Illinois High School Association to ensure student athletes with disabilities have full and equal opportunities to compete in interscholastic sports competitions throughout the state.
Madigan filed the lawsuit jointly with Equip for Equality, a federally mandated legal advocacy organization for people with disabilities in Illinois and which represents Mary Kate Callahan, a 16-year-old junior at Fenwick Catholic High School in Oak Park. Madigan said their mutual goal in bringing today’s action is to ensure all students with disabilities have the right to access every high school program and activity, including interscholastic sports competitions and state meets that feature separate heats to allow disabled athletes to compete.
“Every student athlete should have a chance to compete, including athletes with disabilities,” Madigan said. “Many other states give student athletes with disabilities the opportunity to compete. Students in Illinois should have the same chance.”
The joint lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, charges the nonprofit IHSA with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act, both of which require that no person be excluded from equal participation in any program or activity of a public entity because of their disability. The laws also prohibit discrimination based on a person’s disability.
Out of 811 high schools in Illinois, 793 public and private high schools are members of the nonprofit IHSA, the only organization in the state through which high schools can compete in interscholastic competitions. But under current IHSA practices, athletes with disabilities cannot compete with able-bodied athletes and cannot advance to state meets offered by the IHSA. Nationally, 15 states already provide an opportunity for student athletes with disabilities to take part in various sporting events.
Today’s action arose out of complaints brought to Madigan’s office by Equip for Equality and Mary Kate Callahan, who uses a wheelchair due to lower limb paralysis from a condition called transverse myelitis. Though Mary Kate is a member of Fenwick’s swim team and Fenwick supports her participation in competitions, she is not allowed to compete with her team in IHSA meets at the sectional or state championship level.
“By not providing appropriate time standards for high school athletes with disabilities to qualify for state events, the IHSA is punishing disabled athletes,” Mary Kate Callahan said. “We work just as hard and want to represent our high schools at the highest level of competition just like all athletes. The IHSA is preventing us from doing so.”
Madigan said the lawsuit was brought after attempts by her office to resolve the matter out of court were rebuffed by the IHSA. The nonprofit association filed suit against the Attorney General’s office in April. Madigan’s office had hoped to reach an agreement with the IHSA to allow athletes with disabilities to compete during the same championships as their able-bodied peers.
The lawsuit seeks to allow all students with disabilities to compete and earn points in interscholastic high school meets and to establish qualifying standards and rules for these students so they can compete at state meets, set records and earn medals like all other students. The lawsuit seeks to require IHSA to do so first for swimming and track and field sports for the 2012-2013 school year and expand opportunities in other sports thereafter.
Public Interest Division Chief Paul Gaynor, Disability Rights Bureau Chief Nicki Bazer and Assistant Attorney General Judith Levitan are handling the case for Madigan’s office. Alan Goldstein, Amy Peterson and Lauren Lowe are handling the case for Equip for Equality.
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Paralyzed high school swimmer leads suit against IHSA
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Report by Karen Jordan | ABC7 Chicago News
May 16, 2012 (CHAMPAIGN, Ill.) (WLS) -- A paralyzed high school swimmer helped file a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of other student athletes with disabilities.
Mary Kate Callahan, 16, wants to ensure that student athletes with disabilities can compete in interscholastic sports throughout the state.
Callahan does not back down from a challenge. As a baby, she contracted transverse myelitis, a rare neurological disease that left her without the use of her legs. But she fell in love with summing, relying on her upper body to power her through the pool.
Her passion for the sport led her to the swim team at Fenwick High School, which lets her take part in competitions. Her swimming is symbolic. She's not allowed to officially compete with her team on Illinois High School Association meets at the sectional or state championship level.
"I train just as hard as everyone else and in the disabled world, I'm ranked up there and it's hard being cut off because you know you put in just as much effort as anybody else," said Callahan.
Callahan and her mother Joanne Callahan, with the help of Equip for Equality and the Attorney General's office, are suing the IHSA to ensure student athletes with disabilities have equal opportunities to compete in the state.
This is not the first lawsuit in this case. Last month, the IHSA sued the Attorney General's office for clarification on the organization's obligations under the law.
The IHSA's executive director says, "We always have promoted opportunities for student athletes with disabilities, making accommodations upon request in a number of events."
"They sued essentially saying that they want a declaration from the court that the federal laws that prohibit discrimination don't actually apply to them," said Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Madigan says nearly two dozen states have adopted criteria for disabled student athletes to compete. In the meantime, Callahan hopes change will come -- if not for her, then for future disabled athletes.
@ http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8663873
(Copyright ©2012 WLS-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
May 16, 2012
Illinois Attorney General Office
Lawsuit Seeks Equal Opportunity for Student Athletes with Disabilities
Chicago – Attorney General Lisa Madigan, with Equip for Equality and a 16-year-old high school student from La Grange, today filed a joint lawsuit against the nonprofit Illinois High School Association to ensure student athletes with disabilities have full and equal opportunities to compete in interscholastic sports competitions throughout the state.
Madigan filed the lawsuit jointly with Equip for Equality, a federally mandated legal advocacy organization for people with disabilities in Illinois and which represents Mary Kate Callahan, a 16-year-old junior at Fenwick Catholic High School in Oak Park. Madigan said their mutual goal in bringing today’s action is to ensure all students with disabilities have the right to access every high school program and activity, including interscholastic sports competitions and state meets that feature separate heats to allow disabled athletes to compete.
“Every student athlete should have a chance to compete, including athletes with disabilities,” Madigan said. “Many other states give student athletes with disabilities the opportunity to compete. Students in Illinois should have the same chance.”
The joint lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, charges the nonprofit IHSA with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act, both of which require that no person be excluded from equal participation in any program or activity of a public entity because of their disability. The laws also prohibit discrimination based on a person’s disability.
Out of 811 high schools in Illinois, 793 public and private high schools are members of the nonprofit IHSA, the only organization in the state through which high schools can compete in interscholastic competitions. But under current IHSA practices, athletes with disabilities cannot compete with able-bodied athletes and cannot advance to state meets offered by the IHSA. Nationally, 15 states already provide an opportunity for student athletes with disabilities to take part in various sporting events.
“Students with disabilities should have the same opportunity to participate and compete in high school sports,” said Zena Naiditch, President and CEO of Equip for Equality. “This lawsuit seeks to bring Illinois in line with many other states, which already fully include student athletes with disabilities.”
Today’s action arose out of complaints brought to Madigan’s office by Equip for Equality and Mary Kate Callahan, who uses a wheelchair due to lower limb paralysis from a condition called transverse myelitis. Though Mary Kate is a member of Fenwick’s swim team and Fenwick supports her participation in competitions, she is not allowed to compete with her team in IHSA meets at the sectional or state championship level.
“By not providing appropriate time standards for high school athletes with disabilities to qualify for state events, the IHSA is punishing disabled athletes,” Mary Kate Callahan said. “We work just as hard and want to represent our high schools at the highest level of competition just like all athletes. The IHSA is preventing us from doing so.”
Madigan said the lawsuit was brought after attempts by her office to resolve the matter out of court were rebuffed by the IHSA. The nonprofit association filed suit against the Attorney General’s office in April. Madigan’s office had hoped to reach an agreement with the IHSA to allow athletes with disabilities to compete during the same championships as their able-bodied peers.
The lawsuit seeks to allow all students with disabilities to compete and earn points in interscholastic high school meets and to establish qualifying standards and rules for these students so they can compete at state meets, set records and earn medals like all other students. The lawsuit seeks to require IHSA to do so first for swimming and track and field sports for the 2012-2013 school year and expand opportunities in other sports thereafter.
Public Interest Division Chief Paul Gaynor, Disability Rights Bureau Chief Nicki Bazer and Assistant Attorney General Judith Levitan are handling the case for Madigan’s office. Alan Goldstein, Amy Peterson and Lauren Lowe are handling the case for Equip for Equality.
###
Paralyzed high school swimmer leads suit against IHSA
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Report by Karen Jordan | ABC7 Chicago News
May 16, 2012 (CHAMPAIGN, Ill.) (WLS) -- A paralyzed high school swimmer helped file a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of other student athletes with disabilities.
Callahan does not back down from a challenge. As a baby, she contracted transverse myelitis, a rare neurological disease that left her without the use of her legs. But she fell in love with summing, relying on her upper body to power her through the pool.
Her passion for the sport led her to the swim team at Fenwick High School, which lets her take part in competitions. Her swimming is symbolic. She's not allowed to officially compete with her team on Illinois High School Association meets at the sectional or state championship level.
"I train just as hard as everyone else and in the disabled world, I'm ranked up there and it's hard being cut off because you know you put in just as much effort as anybody else," said Callahan.
Callahan and her mother Joanne Callahan, with the help of Equip for Equality and the Attorney General's office, are suing the IHSA to ensure student athletes with disabilities have equal opportunities to compete in the state.
This is not the first lawsuit in this case. Last month, the IHSA sued the Attorney General's office for clarification on the organization's obligations under the law.
The IHSA's executive director says, "We always have promoted opportunities for student athletes with disabilities, making accommodations upon request in a number of events."
"They sued essentially saying that they want a declaration from the court that the federal laws that prohibit discrimination don't actually apply to them," said Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Madigan says nearly two dozen states have adopted criteria for disabled student athletes to compete. In the meantime, Callahan hopes change will come -- if not for her, then for future disabled athletes.
@ http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8663873
(Copyright ©2012 WLS-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Madigan says nearly two dozen states have adopted criteria for disabled student athletes to compete.
Ty, Jack
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