position
“Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Public Law 105 – 17 Amendments of 1997) requires that special education, including physical education, is made available to all students with disabilities.” (Davis & Stanton, 1998, p. 5). This results in students with disabilities being included in general physical education (GPE) classes. Many schools see physical education as a luxury. This law could help to establish a solid quality physical education program in schools. It could also make it more difficult for schools to provide the correct resources of physical education for those students with disabilities. Schools are stuck between making the decision of whether or not to provide separate physical education to those with disabilities or to include them in general physical education classrooms. This brings up the controversy of whether or not children with disabilities should be included in general physical education classes. Including students with disabilities into regular physical education classes creates negative stereotyping and focuses more on the students’ disability instead of their actual abilities (Sutherland and Hodge, 2001). In their view students with disabilities should not be included in regular classrooms. This makes it hard for the physical educator to focus on their functioning level and ability when they are trying to create a successful and meaningful curriculum for the whole class. It creates more work than the teacher can handle. Having a student with a disability in a regular physical education class is not regular (Sutherland and Hodge, 2001). In fact it is irregular which irregularity within the class.