The Colorado High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) is facing a potential lawsuit involving a swimmer and alleged violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
16-year-old Coronado High School junior swimmer Ethan Orr suffers from Type 1 diabetes and wears a glucose monitor both in and out of the water to track his blood sugar levels. While swimming, Orr affixes tape on top of the monitor to ensure it stays in place. He raced at several high school swimming meets in the past with tape.
However, when it came to the 2021 CHSAA State Championships meet, the 400y freestyle relay on which Orr competed was ultimately disqualified for not being able to produce a medical justification for wearing the tape.
According to Denver Post, the CHSAA rule book says a swimmer who wears tape to treat an illness must have a doctor’s note. Orr, who did not have a doctor’s note at the meet, was given the choice of removing the glucose monitor or sitting out the race. He chose not to swim and the team was disqualified.
Orr’s attorneys argue that the monitor wasn’t treating an illness so no note was required. They also say there is a provision in CHSAA’s rulebook that allows a referee to determine a swimmer’s tape is legal.(Denver Post)
Per the complaint filed on behalf of Orr, the CHSAA is being accused of violating the ADA Act which prohibits organizations that receive federal funding from discriminating against someone who has a disability.
“Right now, CHSAA behaves as a reckless quasi-governmental agency that is accountable to nobody,” Orr’s attorney IgorvRaykin said.
“I cannot imagine you can have any competitive advantage by putting tape over a glucose monitor, not to mention the competitive disadvantage you have by being Type 1 diabetic,” Raykin said. (Denver Post)
I wore an elbow sleeve in a Masters race once, and the referee approached me afterward and asked if I had a doctor’s note. I had not even considered it. (Masters is far less intense than college swimming was, for one thing.) He said no problem, no DQ for that race, but please don’t wear it again until you get a doctor’s note. This Glucose Monitor/Tape situation might have been handled more gracefully that way. Ultimately, though, it seems like “doctor note” would be a lot easier than “remove/replace” and “lawsuit” and some of these other proposed solutions. It is a time tested basis for an unknown variety of special circumstances, and the “doctor note” exception is already written into… Read more »
I understand where your perspective is coming from, but I don’t understand how uninformed some people are about diabetes. I can’t believe this situation has not been addressed before. What situations could they be worried about with the tape? I am interested in understanding their viewpoint. The option they offered to the swimmer “to remove the CGM sensor for that event” shows that they don’t understand. You can’t reapply the sensor once it is removed. If he had 10 more days to wear the sensor, it would be throwing money away to just remove it for that one race, then put on a new one. Doing so may also cause him to run short with his supply of sensors before… Read more »
Any comments from Gary Hall Jr?
As a type one diabetic who swam through high school and college, I can promise that this device and the tape over top of it provided no advantage. Each diabetic controls his/her condition differently. Sports, especially swimming, with type one diabetes is extraordinarily difficult, and the fact that these officials ruled in this manner is deeply sad.
High School athletic associations tend to be run by rules-makig-abiding non-thinkers. The case is a slam dunk. No interactive process to discuss reasonable accommodation. My way or the highway. Make them learn the law Mr. Orr.
As a USA official who has observed many championship meets in CO and have literally heard them in their briefings laugh about about “getting them”, common sense and sense of fair play are out of the question.
That said, how did this kid not have a Drs note??
So conflicted on this.
Probabaly because he swam all year without being asked.
Lighten up Igor. Maybe go talk to them first and explain. My guess is they are reasonable at CHSAA. But in the moment of a race an official making a call likely doesn’t reflect the entire CHSSA broadly. But I admit I am only speculating and basing it off of nothing in the article that points to them going to the CHSAA to discuss.
Unfortunately, in the real world, the only thing that ever gets big organizations like the CHSAA to move and fix policy is lawsuits. Otherwise they’d just say “sorry” and then it would happen again.
Not just that but there is no enforcement of the ADA outside of lawsuits. When it passed there was no enforcement agency created, so the expected pathway to document and resolve infractions was lawsuits. This is not a case of an overly litigious populous but actually just the constraints of the design of the law.
CHSAA is kind of a mess. Having lived in Colorado for a bit, they’re kind of all over the place.
Your use of ‘Igor’ as a derision is ??? Amazing what TDS did to people.
If the monitor was not treating an illness, i.e. diabetes, then does the attorney argue that the monitor treats a disability? What’s the federal definition of disability? Does diabetes fit within the definition? What about Lupus, and Crohn’s Disease? Are they and other similar conditions now disabilities and not diseases or forms of illnesses, which would require a doctor’s note according to CHSAA’s administrative procedures? Pursuant to SwimSwam, the CHSAA rule book also states that the referee has discretion to determine whether the tape is “legal”. Apparently, the referee exercised his/her/their discretion. Was not the refusal-to-allow a permissible outcome of exercise of that discretion? Finally, what are the damages here?
Diabetes is classified as a disability by the federal government and is covered under the ADA. I know you’re asking in bad faith, but thought I’d answer for everyone else.
What happened to common sense?