A publicly unidentified Ayala High School student who is handicapped is demanding to be permitted to play on the school’s baseball team, intimating he will file suit if the school does not allow him to suit up.
The student, a 17-year-old who is deaf and has cerebral palsy, alleges he was cut from the Bulldogs’ junior varsity squad because he is disabled and that the team coaches made unfair comparisons of his talents on the diamond with other non-disabled players.
So far, the school and the Chino Valley Unified School District have had no comment.
A lawyer hired by the youth’s family, Riverside-based Jason Ryan Thompson, laid out the accusations in a press release. The student’s name was not provided. No suit had yet been filed, but according to the release, district superintendent Wayne Joseph and Ayala principal Diana Yarboi have been served with a “letter of demand” referencing the boy’s mother’s insistence that her son be allowed to be a member of the team. His being accepted as a member of the team does not require that he actually play in games.
According to the release, the team’s coaches have steadfastly refused to allow the student to participate on the team in any fashion, and adamantly refuse to allow him playing time on the field.
Concern has been expressed about the student’s safety, but according to the press release, he previously “played on the Ayala freshman baseball team and was at no time seen as a danger to himself or other players,” and notes he “grew up playing baseball with many of his friends who are current members of the Ayala junior varsity baseball team.”
The release said the family simply wants “compassionate inclusion rather than callus exclusion.”