OCR Guidance on Extracurricular Athletic Activities for Students with Disabilities

2019-05-30T10:41:56-05:00

On January 25, 2013, US Office for Civil Rights issued guidance clarifying school districts’ existing legal obligations to provide equal access to extracurricular athletic activities to students with disabilities. The Dear Colleague letter below provides examples of the types of reasonable modifications that schools may be required to make to existing policies, practices, or procedures: Extracurricular athletics—which include club, intramural, or interscholastic (e.g.,freshman, junior varsity, varsity) athletics at all education levels—are an important component of an overall education program. The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report that underscored that access to, and participation in, extracurricular athletic opportunities [...]