10-year-old with autism ‘excluded' from NSW cross country champs

News.com.au

8 hours ago

A 10-year-old boy with autism has been blocked from competing at the NSW primary school cross championships despite doing enough to qualify.
7News reports Charlie Cox made it to the North Coast Cross Country Championships and qualified for the state finals as a special needs athlete.
'We were very disappointed that Charlie was excluded,' Charlie's father Owen told 7News.
Tennis Australia and Swimming Australia both have classifications for athletes with formally diagnosed autism, but Australian Athletics does not include autism within its framework.
'As such, the inclusion of an autism category for the sports of athletics and cross country are not feasible in the Representative School Sport Pathway as there are no nationally recognised benchmarks to support fair and consistent result calculation,' the NSW Department of Education said.
'Other states and territories that have made local provisions for participation do so outside the formal School Sport Australia pathway and there is no fair or consistent result calculation, nor is there a pathway to the next level of representation.
'Your concern is acknowledged and please be reassured that the NSW Department of Education remains committed to advocating for broader inclusion through national sporting bodies such as Athletics Australia.'
The news comes after a Year 9 student with dwarfism was told last year he couldn't compete because of a rule from World Para Athletics that's recently been adopted by School Sport Australia.
Hugo, a Year 9 student from Sydney's Northern Beaches was told he couldn't compete at national trials.
Hugo has genetic disorder achondroplasia – the most common form of short-limbed dwarfism, but that hasn't stopped him running.
'I like the feeling of adrenaline. Halfway through the run, I get a feeling that I can't stop, otherwise I'll be so disappointed in myself, and I just like that feeling of running and it just makes me happy,' Hugo told 7NEWS.
For years he has competed at state level, but he can no longer compete in any long-distance events because of a new rule adopted by School Sports Australia.
'It's really sad, I see the joy that Hugo gets when he's competing … there's not that many opportunities for kids with disabilities to have success and it's really sad to see that as a mother ripped away from him and without any reasons,' Hugo's mum Alicia said.
'I just don't understand why, it doesn't harm anyone else. It doesn't affect anyone; he has individual medical clearance to do it and it's just really hard to understand.'
The new rule, enforced by Athletics Australia is based on medical advice relating to short-statured people running long distances.