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Rehabilitation Act
Passed in 1973, the Rehab Act states that "no otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States,...shall soley by reason of his handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance..."and has been influential in court cases ever since it's passage. -
Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975
This act was passed to increase educational opportunities avaliable to children with disabilities by providing the children with a free appropriate public education. -
Southeastern Community College v. Davis
Davis suffers from a hearing disorder that requires her to wear a hearing aid, and even then has to result to reading lips to fully understand those around her. Southeastern Community College refused to let her into the program, she took it to the courts. The courts ruled in favor of Southeastern because Davis was not an "otherwise qualified individual" and her disability would prevent her from functioning "sufficiently" in Southeastern's nursing program. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The purpose of this act is "to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities." It covers three different areas in it's three titles. The first is employment, the second is public services, and finally public accomodations and services operated by private entities. -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 was renamed "IDEA" in 1990. This act not only addresses the needs of children with disabilities in primary education, but also in secondary and post secondary education for institutions receiving federal assistance. -
Anderson v. Little League Baseball, Inc.
Anderson, who was in a wheelchair and was a base coach for a Little League baseball team. He claims that LL Baseball adopted the new rule, of only allowing coaches in wheelchairs to coach from the dugout, to prevent him from participating on the baseball field during the '91 season-end tournament. The court found that Andersons interactions with the children were significant and they would suffer irreparable harm if Little League were to discriminate against him due to his disability. -
Crocker v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association
Crocker transferred to another school in Nashville in order to gain access to remedial education programs that were unavaliable to him at his original school. According to TSSAA transfer rule, Crocker would be ineligible for one year of athletic participation. The courts found that TSSAA's denial of the opportunity to participate they were discriminating against Crocker due to his disability. The school or school district should have decided whether Crocker had a genuine motive for transfer. -
Maddox v. University of Tennessee
Maddox was hired as an assistant football coach in 1992 at the University of Tennessee. He claims that he suffers from a disability of alcoholism. After Maddox began working at UT, he was arrested for driving under the influence and public intoxication. After his arrest, he was fired from his position as assistant coach. Maddox could not establish the existence of a genuine disability of alcoholism rather he had been fired by reason of his criminal misconduct. -
Sandison v. Michigan High School Athletic Association
Sandison and Stanley both suffer from a learning disability that cause them to be held back while they were younger. When they got to high school they were told they couldn't participate their senior year because they were too old. The courts found that a waiver of age limit would be acceptable in the case of Sandison and Stanley because they played a noncontact sport and were not considered "star players." -
Knapp v. Northwestern University
Knapp had previously suffered from a sudden cardiac death, once he began attending Northwestern they wouldn't let him take the court, even to practice, with his team because there was a chance they he would suffer sudden cardiac death again. Northwestern had a reasonable cause for not letting Knapp play basketball, because it could have been the death of him. Although he was covered under the Rehab Act, the court found that he was not "otherwise qualified" to play intercolligate basketball. -
PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin
Martin was a professional golfer who suffers a degenerative circulatory disorder and is deemed disabled under the ADA. PGA Tour has a rule against the use of golf carts while in a tournament because it would "fundamentally alter the nature of the game". PGA would not let Martin participate. Although Martin is protected under the ADA, since the use of a cart would fundamentally alter the nature of the game Martin was not allowed to participate. -
Bowers v. National Colligate Athletic Association
Bowers was denied eligibility to play football at Temple University due to his lack of core classes and special education classes which the NCAA did not recognize. Bowers then began to mess around with prescription drugs. After Bowers died, the court found that he was not "otherwise qualified" to play football at Temple because his initial drug use made him ineligible.
