Creating Equal Opportunities for Children and Youth with Disabilities to Participate in Physical Education and Extracurricular Activities
ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility includes the considerations of the area or environment in which physical activity takes place, the safety and security within the space, and specifications suggested for particular disabilities. Access is facilitated through adapted PE practices3 and universal design principles4 (U. S. Access Board, n.d.). For example, concrete play areas are being replaced by soft surfaces to reduce child injury. Because wood chips and sand interfere with mobility of children and youth in wheelchairs, solid soft surfaces are recommended to allow safe use of play areas by more children and youth (U. S. Access Board, n.d.).
The Title II regulations, which apply to public schools and their facilities, provide requirements for accessibility to persons with disabilities.5 For example, Title II applies to public schools' play areas and provides requirements for their accessibility by persons with disabilities. Accessibility also refers to the opportunity to use facilities and equipment. Communities that provide accessible transportation to accessible facilities increase the opportunity for physical activity by children and youth with disabilities and their families.
4 “The term, "universal design," means a concept or philosophy for designing and delivering products and services that are usable by people with the widest possible range of functional capabilities, which include products and services that are directly accessible (without requiring assistive technologies) and products and services that are interoperable with assistive technologies.” (See Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as amended, 29 U. S. C. § 3002. IDEA uses the same definition. See 20 U.S.C. § 1401(35).)
5 Among other things, the Title II regulations provide that new construction of a facility be done so that the facility is readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities. New construction and alterations commencing on or after March 15, 2012, are subject to new design standards under the Title II regulations, and these standards include specific requirements for play areas. See 28 C.F.R. §35.151. The Title II regulations also impose a requirement that each service, program or activity of a public entity, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities, and they establish program accessibility requirements that include requirements applicable to play areas. See 28 C.F.R. §35.150.
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