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date: 05 March 2021

Abstract and Keywords

This chapter discusses the leading issues involving individuals with disabilities who participate, or seek to participate, in U.S. sports. This analysis highlights the most important issues in the interscholastic, intercollegiate, professional, and Olympic sports contexts. This chapter asserts that while current legal doctrine focuses on prohibiting discrimination and accommodating “qualified” persons with disabilities within existing sports programs, more should be done to expand adaptive sports programming. In this way, law can be used to help expand our current understandings of who is an “athlete” and what is a “sport,” so that in the future, more individuals with disabilities can enjoy the benefits of athletic competition.

Keywords: disability, sports, equality, discrimination, Rehabilitation Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, adaptive sports

Dionne Koller

Dionne L. Koller is Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Sport and the Law at the University of Baltimore.

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