Alternative Baseball

Alternative Baseball, officially Alternative Baseball Organization Inc. (ABO), is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Dallas, Georgia, United States. Providing year-round baseball training, exhibitions, and activities for teens and adults (ages 15+) with autism and other disabilities throughout the United States.

Founder

Alternative Baseball was founded in 2016 by Taylor Duncan, an autism activist from Dallas, Georgia, who was denied opportunities to play traditional baseball as a youth and faced social stigma from coaches.

Rules

Alternative Baseball uses the same rule-set as seen in Major League Baseball. The only adaption made in Alternative Baseball is the type of ball used: A baseball sized slightly larger and much softer than a regulation-sized baseball in order to safely accommodate players of all skill and experience levels from novice to professional.

Programs

Alternative Baseball encourages locals to volunteer and assist with establishing new programs to serve those in their individual areas. The organization started expanding across the United States in 2018 after finding a serious lack of programming geared for adults with disabilities to continue their enrichment toward successful independence post-high school graduation. Alternative Baseball currently has programs (and new ones starting up) in Alabama,Arizona,Colorado,Florida,Georgia,Illinois, New Jersey,North Carolina,South Carolina,Tennessee,Texas, and Washington with many more clubs and programs to be started across the country. Registration in Canada is also currently pending.

See also

• Autism rights movement
• Amateur baseball in the United States
• Disabled sports
• International Paralympic Committee