Agreement Puts Disabled Coach Back in Action

A Westminster High School baseball coach who sued state and local athletic organizations for banning him from the field because of his wheelchair will be allowed to coach for the remainder of the baseball season.

Victor Barrios, 26, sought a temporary restraining order against the California Interscholastic Federation and the Orange County Baseball Officials Assn., which had kept him off the field for most of the season.

His wheelchair posed a safety threat to both him and the players, they said.

Attorneys for Barrios and the athletic organizations came to an accord Friday afternoon during a closed-door hearing on his case in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. CIF officials previously said they had obtained a waiver from the national organization so that Barrios could coach.

“We had a very productive discussion in court chambers and we agreed that we are all committed to seeing Coach Barrios continue to coach,” said Andrew Patterson, attorney for the federation.

The agreement, however, is specific to Barrios and does not change the federation’s policy of banning wheelchairs from the field.

Barrios, a paraplegic, had been the third base coach for the Westminster Lions freshman baseball team for the past four years, but this year the federation said a rule prohibiting umpires from using wheelchairs on the field also applied to Barrios. As a result, he was barred from his post for most of the season; only four games remain.

His banishment to the dugout outraged advocates for the disabled, who said it was founded on myths and stereotypes about the abilities of disabled people.

The coach, an Anaheim resident and former gang member who now is a junior at Cal State Fullerton, was represented by attorneys from the Center for Law in the Public Interest and the Western Law Center for Disability Rights, who before the hearing maintained that the two athletic groups never had any right to stop Barrios from coaching.

The rule applying to umpires should not have been applied to a coach, they said, but even were it relevant, the Americans with Disabilities Act requires each case to be assessed individually, not addressed by a broad policy banning wheelchairs.

Lawyers for both sides would not comment further on the case, but said they would continue to work on the remaining issues.

Barrios, who was coaching the Lions against the Ocean View Hawks on Friday afternoon, cheered the agreement in between shouting a steady stream of praise and criticism to his players.

“This is a real weight off me,” he said. “From now on I don’t have to worry about this but can do what it is I really want to do.”

Although the federation policy remains the same for now, he hopes to see it change in the future.

“This is a start and that’s the key,” he said. “But I hope it opens up equal rights for everyone in a wheelchair.”