Spring Fever, Group Presentations, and a Video or Two

         In our last Innovative Activities class before spring break, we finished up the group presentations. The first group talked about adaptive rock climbing and had several youtube videos and examples of techniques to show us. I had never heard of adaptive rock climbing and the equipment was pretty amazing. There was something called magic wheels that allowed a person in a wheel chair to levitate up by pulling on handlebars that were attached to a pulley system. The second group talked about adaptive hunting and fishing. They shared with us different kinds of fishing poles for different disabilities such as people who don’t have much movement or control in their arms for holding the pole. There were also adaptive guns and bows for hunting. Some had a piece that helped hold the gun up and others were controlled by blowing in a mouthpiece.

       After the two presentations, we watched two movies about people with disabilities and how they remain active and engaged in outdoor activities. There was a young woman who surfed with a leg that wasn’t developed pasted her knee, a man who was paralyzed and went hang gliding, another man who scuba dived and was paralyzed, and a group of three men, one paralyzed from the waist down, a man with prosthetic legs, and a man who lost his vision who all went rock climbing together. The three men’s story was especially inspiring because they worked together to help each other out and used their abilities to make a difference instead of letting their disabilities get in the way. The man who was blind carried the man with paraplegia and while on his back, he would explain the trail to the man with vision impairment so he could maneuver his way up the mountain. The man who had prosthetic legs also explain the trail to the man who was blind and helped set up the ropes that would be used to help the man who was paralyzed get up the steep parts of the mountain using a pulley system.

                A CTRS could learn a lot from these stories and learn about different types of adaptations for all kinds of disabilities and activities. It also can give CTRS ideas about activities to facilitate with people. This is helpful because often times people with disabilities do not try new things because they do not know of the options they have and the adaptive equipment that is out there. By watching these films and seeing the people’s stories, a CTRS can be inspired to go out and share these ideas to people, offering to help those who may have a disability reach out and try to take part in whatever their interests are.