Wheelchair racers will not earn points in state or regional track and field competitions until school officials find a scoring system that places disabled and non-disabled athletes at parity, a federal judge ruled Saturday.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed against state education officials by wheelchair athlete Tatyana McFadden, an Atholoton High School junior who won the right to score points in local meets for her school?s team in a deal brokered with Howard County Public Schools earlier this year.
U.S. District Judge Andre Davis, in his opinion, wrote that while the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association?s current rules are unfair to McFadden, they are not discriminatory under the Americans with Disabilities Act, as her lawyers contended.
“The question is whether the constraints on McFadden?s ability to earn points for her team differ in any material, legally cognizable way from the constraints on the opportunity of similarly situated students,” Davis wrote. “The court is constrained to answer that question ?no.? ”
Davis agreed that the state rules needed to be changed, but left it to education officials to devise a fair system.
“If [McFadden] is not permitted to earn points for her team when she is otherwise eligibleto do so, she will be a member of the track team, but only in spirit,” he wrote.
Howard County is the only Maryland jurisdiction that permits “wheelers” to score for their team.
McFadden was in England for the VISA Paralympic World Cup Games Sunday and had not heard about Davis? ruling, her mother said.
“Are we disappointed? Of course we are, but I?m happy the judge is recognizing that there should be points and it should be fair,” Deborah McFadden said. “I believe that the state has a lot of smart people, and they can figure this out.”
