Interscholastic Athletic Participation for Individuals with Disabilities Over the Past 15 Years: Did the 2013 Dear Colleague Letter Make a Difference?

In January 2013, a position statement was put out by the Office of Civil Rights reiterating benefits of athletic participation at the interscholastic level and outlining the obligations of school districts for providing sports programs for students with disabilities. The current study provides a means to measure how successful this position statement was at ensuring equal opportunities for athletes with disabilities through interscholastic programming. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) online data base has posted participation numbers for interscholastic sports programs since 2002 and provided data on more specialized sports options for school age children with disabilities dating back to the 2009-10 school year. The current study analyzed participation statistics over three time periods (Pre-Dear Colleague 2009-2013, Post Dear Colleague 2013-2019, Post Pandemic 2021-2023) and found a main affect for participants (F (2, 306) = 6.449; p < .01; partial η² = .041). However, post hoc analysis determined that the significant increases in participation in the modified sports options primarily occurred Post Pandemic (2021-2023) (M = 958, SD = 1962) compared to the Pre-Dear Colleague letter timeframe (M = 317, SD = 223) (p < .01). Comparisons to initial years (Post Dear Colleague) following the Office of Civil Rights position statement resulted in no significant changes in participation and number of schools offering programs (p > .01). The changes in participation numbers (Post Pandemic) are attributed to Unified Sports programs where both high school athletes with and without disabilities participate in modified competition. More specialized Adapted Sports participation by athletes with disabilities did not increase at the interscholastic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]