Abstract
Because there is general agreement that extracurricular activities represent valued school practices, the U. S. Department's Office for Civil Rights has mandated under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act that school districts must offer equal access to extracurricular activities to students with disabilities and provide, as necessary, appropriate accommodations and modifications. More information about why that was the case is needed as a number of hypotheses could result in this outcome. Since participation in Special Olympics was the most common extracurricular activity identified for this group of students, one possible explanation could be that extracurricular involvement for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities still is viewed as involvement in separate rather than inclusive activities in schools and/or communities, hence general educators did not participate in this planning.
