How do you deal with this?

[wwcfoa43]

In Canada, there was similar problem with a coach in a wheelchair. There was a long involved process pitting safety against disabled persons' rights. In the end, the area of football involved ended up having ALL bench personell five yards back from the sideline. In that way, there was no discrimination against any one person. An interesting side effect is that now in that area, the side officials have much more room. This policy has not spread beyond the one high school area yet.

[verticalStripes]

Fed Rules in my state:

We had a coach in a wheelchair. The intrepreation we received from the State Interpreter was that it is perfectly legal provided that he stays off the field. Wheelchairs are not illegal equipment for non-players.

[DJ_NV]

vstripes,

just to clarify, when you say "off the field", you're saying that the coaching box area is acceptable?

thanks

[AndrewMcCarthy]

Could you get someone to stay behind him rerady to wheel him back if play comes to your side?

[MJT]

Originally Posted by AndrewMcCarthy

Could you get someone to stay behind him rerady to wheel him back if play comes to your side?

I'd say that would be a good way to go about it. Someone must be behind him and anytime they come his way, he must get out of the way for the safety of all. He is only being selfish if he does not agree with that, and if that is the case, he can go up in the pressbox.

[bossman72]

Originally Posted by MJT

He is only being selfish if he does not agree with that, and if that is the case, he can go up in the pressbox.

Yes! If you're in a wheelchair, you belong in the press box purely for safety reasons. This is just the same as wheeling the equipment cart right behind the coaches- it has no chance of getting out of the way in time for people not to get hurt. Heck, players with functioning legs have a hard enough time getting out of the way when they're that close!

[parepat]

I think the buzzword in the American's With Disabilities Act is "reasonable accomodation. I think a reasonable accomodation would be to have the coach further back from the sideling and maybe behind the LOS a bit. If this is game 1 and I'm hit with this situation and don't have the ability to call the state, I would not let him stay as described in the original post.

As and aside: Does anyone know if their state actually has people available to deal with issues that arise on Friday nights. Does someone answer the phone. Hope I never have to find out.