ABSTRACT
Most of the boys at Southern Middle School, like many boys their age, are sports crazy. Many boys at Southern play on community-sponsored sport teams, and the exceptional athletes play on one or more of Southern's interscholastic teams. The boys in Mr. Jackson's class, a self-contained class for middle school students with severe disabilities, don't seem to have caught the sports bug like the other boys at Southern. He has a list of famous people who have disabilities, including actors Tom Cruise, Danny Glover and basketball stars Sean Elliot and Alonzo Mourning. Mr. Jackson could bring in guest speakers who have disabilities but who are accomplished athletes as well. He knows that there is a high school student with mental retardation who won a gold medal in tennis at the World Special Olympic Games. In golf, players who are not very good can still be competitive against much more skilled players because of handicapping.
