[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by 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.
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.

First off I believe no-one is discriminating here. Your analogy to race is IMO way off base . I believe most who posted here are not saying a coach on crutches or in a wheelchair can not be an active participant in the game, but there needs to be some restrictions.

Whats wrong with the coach giving the line-up card to the UIC / changing pitchers - In other words, whenever there is a dead ball situation, allow the disabled individual to do everything other coaches can.

Let me give you an example; In the LL association I belong to we have a coach in the SR Girls Softball Program who is blind. Believe me he is very active and an inspiration to us all.

Now for obvious reasons he cannot coach either 1st / 3rd base during live ball so we allow this coach to use a " Walkie-Talkie" with his third base coach. By allowing this, the coach is every bit a part of the game, but he isn't jeopardizing the safety of the other players.

I think anyone handicapped or disabled that wants to be part of sports is Fantastic, but there needs to be restrictions. When you have a person in a wheelchair or crutches, the game changes.

A normal play which we will probably see every game is a foul pop-up outside the first / third base foul lines. If the first / third base coach is on crutches or in a wheelchair, chances are players will be skeptical about making plays in that direction.

Now if one coach can participate in a wheelchair or crutches what about both coaches. Therefore, technically we could have both a first / third base coach who is diabled in the coaching boxes.

To me discriminate means - You do not want any part of and that simply isn't the case here. I'm willing to work with anybody as long as they are willing to work with me. It's a 2 way street. Also, in all honesty if a coach is worth his weight in gold , he / she wouldn't want to jeopardize the safety of another player.

With the exception of coaching in the boxes, a disabled coach can still be a very active member of the team.

Pete Booth