[DJWickham]

The Americans With Disabilities Act ("ADA") is the law, and umpires who refuse to abide by the federal law (where applicable) will find themselves rightfully sued, without any insurance coverage, and paying a large amount for attorneys fees (both for themselves and for the plaintiff). Umpires who ignore a court order will find themselves in jail. Federal judges don't abide by Rule 9.02(a).

The ADA is about prejudice. Each of the reported cases concerning the ADA and sport has similar facts. Someone with a disability asked to play or coach. The league refused on the grounds that someone on crutches (or otherwise disabled) imposed an unacceptable risk of injury to others. The league made no individualized assessment of the risk actually imposed by that person, but assumed (without any study at all) that the risks were too great. Yet, we've all seen fields in which there is a steel post (holding the dugout fence) 10 feet or less from a base. We've all seen base coaches (some old, some fat, and some inattentive) holding metal clipboards. Which is the greater risk to a runner or fielder? It may depend on the coach? An athlete on crutches may be able to react much quicker than the average coach (who looks alot like me)?

We've done the same thing in this post. We've assumed that the coach on crutches couldn't get out of the way of a thrown or batted ball. We've allowed fear to replace reason.

The ADA doesn't require that everyone with a disability gets to do everything that someone without a disability can do. It says that before we deny anyone an opportunity, we need to assess the specific risks imposed by that person. It requires that we give the coach a "tryout" and then make an individualized assessment of the risk. Is that so hard? Is that so unreasonable?

It's pretty arrogant to say that you won't follow the law as long as you are an umpire. Only a few years ago, umpires were refusing to call games where minorities sought to play with white men. I suspect that eventually we'll learn to deal with our fears about the disabled. But, unless we are willing to assess risk based on the individual involved, we're simply dealing with prejudice.