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HINSDALE, Illinois -- Jenny Youngwith wants to play basketball just as she's been doing safely for years, but a decision made by someone, somewhere is preventing the student with special needs from hitting the court.
As if that weren't bad enough, her family says they're not getting a good answer as to why she can't play.
"We asked them why and they just say, 'Because,' explained the 17-year-old senior's father, Dic Youngwith.
Youngwith and her oxygen tank-carrying service dog, Simba, aren't new to the sport.
They've been playing it in gym class at Community High School in West Chicago for two years.
That all changed when the board of education last year partnered with Special Olympics Illinois.
"I really like playing basketball because I can be with my friends," Youngwith said.
To get resolution, or even an answer, the family has filed a federal lawsuit through an attorney with Chicago disability rights group Equip for Equality.
"We're essentially asking that Jenny be allowed to participate using Simba, her service animal, and her oxygen tank and be able to fully participate in basketball games and track and field events," said attorney Alan Goldstein.
Youngwith and Simba are such a determined combination that they even won a gold medal in a state championship softball throw last year.
It was an event run by Special Olympics Illinois.
Attempts to reach the organization's executives or attorneys for a response have been unsuccessful.
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (www.gadim.org). A former print journalist, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/). Haller is Professor Emerita in the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Haller is co-editor of the 2020 "Routledge Companion to Disability and Media" (with Gerard Goggin of University of Sydney & Katie Ellis of Curtin University, Australia). She is author of "Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media" (Advocado Press, 2010) and the author/editor of Byline of Hope: Collected Newspaper and Magazine Writing of Helen Keller (Advocado Press, 2015). She has been researching disability representation in mass media for 30+ years. She is adjunct faculty in the Disability Studies programs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Texas-Arlington.
From NBC 4 in Columbus, Ohio:
