ent. Thus, in Kampmeier v. Nyquist, 553 F.2d 296 (2nd Cir. 1977), the court upheld a decision by a school board to restrict a student who was blind in one eye from engaging in contact sports on the basis of medical advice that such activities posed a high risk of injury to his good eye. However, in Poole v. South Plainfield Board of Education, 490 F. Supp. 948 (D.N.J. 1980), a case involving a student wrestler with only one kidney, whose parents were willing to sign a waiver and release the school from liability, it was held that the school did not have the right to contravene the wishes of the student and his parents and that its only duty was to advise them of the risks involved.
Early RA Act Decisions on Eligibility
Sec. 504 of RA provides that "no otherwise qualified individual with a disability . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." 29 U.S.C. 794(a). In a number of early cases arising under RA, some federal courts held that public high schools, all of which, directly or indirectly, receive federal assistance must make a reasonable accommodation to the interests and wishes of disabled student athletes. For example, in Gruber v. Bethlehem Area School Dist., 550 F. Supp. 418 (D.Pa. 1982), an outstanding high school athlete who had been barred from playing football in his senior year after it was discovered he had only one kidney, was granted an injunction against the school under sec. 504.
In Southwestern Community College v. Davis 442 U.S. 397, 406 (1979), the Supreme Court clarified the meaning of the seemingly inherent contradiction in the use of the terms "no otherwise qualified person with a disability" by stating that sec. 504 was intended to cover anyone "who is able to meet all of a program's requirements in spite of his handicap....