Lessons From the Field: Creating Equitable Access in Sports
Light spilled over the stadium as the ball soared through the air — on the field, the Cubs players and their coach signed to each other in American Sign Language (ASL).
Such was the scene throughout this past football season for the California School for the Deaf, Riverside (CSDR). The team brought home a slew of uninterrupted victories across 12 games, arriving at the division championship for the first time in the school’s 68-year-history.
But that wasn’t the only reason why their winning streak made history.
Friday Night Lights
The team was composed of only Deaf and hard-of-hearing players, many of whom had played on primarily hearing teams in the past. And they partly attribute their success to playing on an all-Deaf team.
“We practice strong, we work together,” Enos Zornoza told CNN. “We’ve got this sense of brotherhood amongst us.” They were able to communicate in ASL throughout the game, not needing to huddle. “During the game we’re able to throw out plays, exact plays,” Zornoza siad. "Hearing teams don't understand what our plays are, what's being shared on the field."
Their victories also open a larger conversation around equitable access in sports. When stories like the CSDR’s winning streak splash across headlines, it can help broaden mindsets and encourage us to confront unconscious biases. But for these stories to continue to occur, equitable access in sports needs to be advanced.
integrating Equitable Access Into Sports
“Because treating people fairly often means treating them differently.”
Equitable access is not the same as equality. Imagine there are four cyclists — equality is giving everyone the same bicycle, which will probably be well-suited for one of them. Equitable access means that each cyclist has a bicycle that is tailored to them and adapted to their specific needs.
With equitable access, everyone receives the same opportunities for success by giving them the unique support they need to achieve it. It “levels the playing field” so that everyone is supported and able to compete.
I often discuss how equitable access isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” approach; whether in sports, business, education or personal lives, everyone brings different abilities. And accommodating them requires a commitment to dialogues and creating spaces where people feel comfortable discussing their specific needs.
how to Integrate Equitable Access in Sports
While equitable access in sports is not limited to age, promoting it for younger children can help build foundations that empower, support and generate inclusivity in the years to come.
Creating inclusive sports environments can:
Help children with disabilities develop physical fitness, boost emotions and develop meaningful social relationships
Encourage children without disabilities to develop greater respect for people who are different for them and carry inclusive attitudes into adulthood. Students who participated in a Special Olympics program for both students with and without disabilities stated “the program has helped them to be more inclusive of others, to be more respectful, and become more understanding.”
When approaching physical activity, programs should be created around the concept of universal design, which emphasizes an environment that “can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability.”
Approaching sports programs from a universal design perspective includes:
Providing multiple means for student engagement, including offering various activities for students that might better match their interests and abilities
Providing multiple means of sharing information, helping communicate with players with different abilities in the way that works best for them, such as through interpreting services or written instructions
Multiple means of communication is also applicable to enhancing equitable access while watching sports. Brice Christianson, a fellow CODA, became the first interpreter for a professional sports team and interpreted for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Previously, pre- and post-game interviews were solely accompanied by closed captioning: but for many members of the Deaf community, closed captioning is in their second language (English), not their first (ASL). “I really want to incorporate more visibility and awareness and it’s such a vibrant and unique and loving community that I want more people to recognize how wonderful this community is,” Christianson told TMJ4 News.
Integrating equitable access in sports can also include:
Incorporating modified or specialized athletic equipment that can be used by athletes with a variety of abilities
Training personnel to adapt activities and games to various fitness levels. Integrate an understanding of equitable access, modifications and how to work with all students to help ensure participation and teamsmanship
Emphasizing personal improvement over competition, giving students the space to focus on self-growth rather than comparative performance
leveling the Larger Playing Field
The conversation around equitable access in sports extends far beyond the field — it’s part of the foundation of our wider mindsets and perceptions around people with different abilities.
The CSDR team contended with challenges and biases as a Deaf team. “I think they do dismiss us sometimes. Think we’re a deaf school, no big deal,” Zornoza told CNN.
Children with different needs are underrepresented in sports:
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, children with disabilities are 4.5 times less likely to participate in physical activity.
According to the United Nations, 93% of women with disabilities are not involved in sports. (It should be noted that a Play Equity Gap for children has also emerged due to income disparity and high costs of entry for club-level sports.)
Sports offer an opportunity to:
Examine our unconscious biases and perceptions towards people of different abilities
Focus on an individual and their talents, rather than their specific abilities
Empower people with different abilities to have a space where they can participate in what brings them joy, assume leadership roles and flex their talents
Broaden access to long-term benefits. Students who engage in sports and physical activity tend to perform better in school and get better-paying jobs when they graduate. Only 53.3% of Deaf people were employed, compared to 75.8% of hearing people, in 2019 — and only 17.9% of U.S. civilians with a disability were employed in 2020. Introducing equitable access in sports for students can be a key opportunity to help address these gaps
“Through sport, persons without disabilities interact with persons with disabilities in a positive context forcing them to reshape assumptions about what persons with disabilities can and cannot do,” according to the United Nations.
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Regardless of the activity or organization, equitable access is paramount to ensure everyone can succeed to the best of their abilities. To learn more about equitable access and discuss conducting an equitable access audit of your company, contact me here.