Disability Sports Blog

The above video says it all.  This is the time, the generation to change the way people view sports and individuals with disabilities.  People with and without disabilities can work together to be a team and play a sport.  Unified sports is changing the way that people look at sports for the better.  It allows individuals with disabilities to get more involved in the community, but even more, it allows the community to involve people with disabilities in the joy of sports.  I have personally been honored to complete my field experience with the Special Olympic's Unified Fitness program at Slippery Rock University.  The program's vision is to provided inclusive physical activity for all.  Myself and a Special Olympic Athlete pushed each other during each session to complete the 30 minutes of cardio, 15 minutes of strength and endurance, and 5 minutes of abdominal exercises.  We worked together as a team to encourage each other and provide feedbac...

The video above is the story of an inspirational young man by the name of Ezra French.  This video prompts the viewer to think about what they have instead of what they do not have.  Sport takes your thoughts away from the disability.  Sport is a way to combat stress and depression and bring joy into lives of individuals regardless of their ability level.  It brings confidence and strength back into their lives.  A person can overcome anything when they put their mind to it.  Sport is a ritual that many people use for empowerment, joy, and stress relief including individuals with disabilities.  Ezra can separate himself from his disability, empower himself, and allow sport to empower him too.  Now the rest of us need to follow in Ezra's footsteps and not let an individual's disability define their abilities.  When it comes to sport, their is no disability, just an athlete and their abilities.

Turn your passion into action: Today, it can be somewhat difficult for individuals with disabilities to participate in physical activity due to individual, task, and environmental barriers such as availability and accessibility of programs.  Before the beginning of the Special Olympics in 1968, there were almost no opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities to participant in any form of organized physical activity/sport.  It took the courage of one single, determined woman, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, to break down some of those barriers and redefine the realm of disability sports for the better.  She took an idea that she was extremely passionate about and single handedly brought that idea to life by starting Camp Shriver, which evolved into what we know as the Special Olympics.            Her hard work, determination, and passion has changed the lives of so many individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families....

Recently, I have created a presentation on beep baseball and I have learned a lot of interesting information about the game such as: Background Information Beep baseball is baseball for the blind.  It began in Colorado in 1964 when a man named Charley Fairbanks invented the very first version of the beep baseball using old telephone parts and a softball.  Today, beep baseball is governed by the National Beep Baseball Association (NBBA).  There are 34 teams total under the NBBA: thirty-one teams from the United States, one team from Canada, one team from the Dominican Republic, and one team from Taiwan. Equipment: The game utilizes beep baseballs, beeping bases, and blindfolds as modifications.  The beep baseball is a 16-inch softball that contains an implanted electronic device that provides a beeping sound when the pin is pulled out to allow the batter or fielder to locate the ball.  The beeping bases are towers made of foam that include an implanted ...