The Department of Education released new guidelines on Friday which stated that students with disabilities should have equal access to extracurricular athletics.
As part of President Obama’s liberal second-term agenda, the department is saying schools should make modifications to better include students with disabilities.
Schools already are under a legal obligation to give students the same athletic opportunities, but a 2010 report found than many schools were not fulfilling those obligations.
For example, under the new guidelines at a track and field event schools can use both a starter pistol and a visual cue to signal the beginning of the race so as to accommodate a student who is hearing impaired.
The 2013 guidelines do not however, prohibit schools from cutting students with disabilities from competitive teams as long as the cuts are not discriminatory.
