In today’s New York Times, Jere Longman, An Amputee Sprinter: Is he Disabled or Too-Abled, N.Y. Times (May 15, 2007) (free registration available) writes about a disabled double amputee runner who hopes to compete in the Olympics. He runs on carbon-fiber legs and some question whether this may give him some type of advantage. Professor Robert Gailey of the University of Miami Medical School is quoted as questioning whether the concern of the Olympic Committee is allowing an unfair advantage or a product of discrimination because of the purity of the Olympics and a concern that a man without a perfect body may actually win.
This legal issue has implications for professional sports as well as scholastic and school competitions. It also raises issues about how we as a society feel about disabled individuals. Sounds like it has the making for a perfect law review article for an adjunct or full-time law professor!
Mitch Rubinstein