Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

A member of an indoor rowing team or club? If so, this is the place for you.
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brotherjim
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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by brotherjim » October 16th, 2012, 11:17 am

I received a very nice email from Lars of the Rote 87 rowing team/club. They race in a very exciting ocean race between Sweden and an island called Alands. Rote means ocean in Swedish. Since I am so computer illiterate, I am having trouble getting the pages to translate.
Anyway, they rowed the most meters per member and it was an amazing number.
Great job teammates for a very exciting challenge, you are all the best.
Here is a copy of the email.
jim

To the members of the Overcoming Disabilities Team. We, in the Rote 87 Rowing Club, have been monitoring your performance in the FTC 2012 and we would like to express our admiration for your performance in this contest. It looks like we are the winners in terms of meters/member, but for you to end up in 4:th place is really admirable. Thank you for the fun. Greetings and keep rowing Lars Sjoberg (Rote 87 Rowing Club)

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by Kona2 » October 16th, 2012, 3:09 pm

Now that email from the other team is a very cool email to receive. Would like to add personal congratulations to the Overcoming Disabilities Challenge Team for the 100 percent participation and the all out effort that everyone of you gave for this Challenge. Most rowed 3 and 4 times the amount of meters you might row on a non-challenge day....EVERY day of the Challenge. Members of OD are from a lot of different places in this world, and you certainly are deserving of international accolades that you receive from other teams. Very glad to know you - you are good people who remind us that we can overcome many, many perceived obstacles.

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by ronnie1 » October 16th, 2012, 4:23 pm

Thank you Lars and Rote 87 club from all of our team. We appreciate your kind words.
Ronnie :D

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by brotherjim » October 17th, 2012, 8:13 am

Here is a continuation of info about the Postrodden race. Thank you Lars for the info and permission to print your email.
jim


Hi Jim.

Well, the weather in June is quite agreeable. Sometimes hot and sunny and sometimes rain and fog. The race is held the weekend before midsummer. It was much tougher centuries ago when the peasants and fishermen on both sides of the sea were required to bring mail across during all seasons (hence the name postrodden). The history behind it is that Sweden and Finland was one country from around the 13:th century up until 1809 when Sweden lost Finland to Russia in a war associated to the Napoleon wars. Anyhow, the Swedish authorities had to administrate the eastern parts of the country (now Finland) during the middle ages, and the quickest way was to row an sail the mail and documents across the sea. The service was stopped with the coming of the steamboat.



The race we are participating in is in memory of all the peasants and fishermen who were lost at sea while delivering mail during the centuries. The winters at these northern latitudes can be quite severe.



Anyhow, the race is approximatly 24 nm and the time spent is around 5 - 8 hours depending on the winds and seastate. In 2011 we didn't participate because I had ruptured my shoulder and the surgeons had to fix it. This year the seastate was too severe so we called it off. But in 2013 we will be back.



The race is held between point A : N60 deg 5.9min, E18deg 48.9min and point B: N60deg 13.14min, E19deg 32.36min



Every second year they switch start position between point A and point B.



Hope you find this interesting.



/Lars

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by ronnie1 » October 17th, 2012, 8:40 am

Thanks for posting these Jimmy, I enjoy reading them.

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New book: Unstoppable

Post by Kona2 » October 18th, 2012, 9:19 am

Anthony Robles is a 24 year old from Arizona State University. He was profiled on the news here in Colorado due to his compelling story - and his work as a motivational speaker. His book Unstoppable was just released in late September (I've got it reserved at the library). He is a very engaging speaker, and I'm looking forward to reading his story. Thought others might like to hear about this book as well.

Unstoppable : from underdog to undefeated : how I became a champion / Anthony Robles with Austin Murphy ; [with a foreword by Jay Leno]

"The powerful and inspiring story of an all-American wrestler who defied the odds. Anthony Robles is a three-time all-American wrestler, the 2011 NCAA National Wrestling Champion, and a Nike-sponsored athlete. He was also born without his right leg. Doctors could not explain to his mother, Judy, what led to the birth defect, but at the age of five, the one-legged toddler scaled a six-foot pole unassisted. From that moment on, Judy knew without a doubt that her son would be unstoppable. When Anthony first began wrestling in high school, he was the smallest kid on the team and finished the year in last place. Yet Anthony's family and coaches supported his decision to continue, and he completed his junior and senior years with a 96-0 record to become a two-time Arizona State champion. In college, Anthony had to prove all over again that he could excel. Despite hardships on and off the mat--including the temptation to quit school and get a job to help his family when they lost their home to foreclosure--Anthony focused his determination and became a champion once again. Since winning the national championship in March 2011, Anthony has become a nationally recognized role model to kids and adults alike. But Unstoppable is not just an exciting sports memoir or an inspirational tale of living with a disability. It is also the story of one man whose spirit and unyielding resolve remind us all that we have the power to conquer adversity--in whatever form."-- Provided by publisher.

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by rosita » October 25th, 2012, 11:00 am

I love this letter from a Special Olympian. You may remember my brother Benny was a Special Olympian,
Rosi

Posted on October 23, 2012by Tim Shriver



John Franklin Stephens

The following is a guest post in the form of an open letter from Special Olympics athlete and global messenger John Franklin Stephens to Ann Coulter after this tweet during last night’s Presidential debate.

Dear Ann Coulter,

Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?

I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.

I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.

Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.

Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.

Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.

After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.

I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.

Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.

No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.

Come join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.

A friend you haven’t made yet,
John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by brotherjim » October 28th, 2012, 11:08 am

Friday, October 26,2012
Kicking butt doesn´t require two legs

How adaptive ski and snowboarding programs are giving athletes with disabilities an edge
By Jessie Lucier


If Oscar Pistorius taught us anything at the summer Olympics it was that some people with physical disabilities don’t let the loss of their legs — or other limbs or senses — keep them from achieving lofty physical goals. While the “Blade Runner” created controversy, as many contended that the blade-like appendages that Pistorius used to run gave him a competitive edge, others were inspired by his drive, spirit and athletic prowess.

If nothing else, Pistorius demonstrated that achieving the status of an elite athlete is not something reserved for the able-bodied population. And as the ski and snowboarding season is gearing up, people of all levels and abilities will be heading into the high country — some purely for recreation and the sense of freedom that an open mountain can provide, whether impaired or not. But some are heading to the high country to kick some serious butt.

“I can ski just as well and even better than most of my able-bodied friends,” says Joel Berman, who is an above-knee amputee and the executive director of Adaptive Adventures, a Boulder-based adaptive sports program. “Skiing really levels the playing field.”

Berman, who lost his leg in 1984 while working on a railroad, says he didn’t ski much before his accident. He began skiing after a friend suggested skiing was a great thing to do on one leg and for people with many kinds of disabilities.

“For people with disabilities, life slows down as mobility becomes a major issue,” Berman says. “But skiing is the one sport where the goal is oftentimes not to go faster, but to figure out how to slow down and stop. It’s great because it really does allow people with physical disabilities to participate on an equal level with their able-bodied peers.”

Berman, who became an expert skier and founded Adaptive Adventures in 1999, says that although Adaptive Adventures caters to people of all levels and abilities, unlike many other programs, Adaptive Adventures focuses on helping athletes push themselves to the next level.

“There were and are a lot of great adaptive programs out there, but as an adaptive skier I got better, but saw that the opportunities and experiences were not growing with me,” Berman says. “That’s why we developed a program that taught advanced skiing and technique. We create a chance for athletes to push themselves to be as good as they can be.”

Although Adaptive Adventures aspires to help disabled athletes reach their highest potential, Berman and others in the industry recognize that high performance or competitive skiing and snowboarding is not for everyone. Adaptive Adventures, among many programs along the Front Range, caters to people of all levels, ages, abilities and interest. And, regardless of ability, volunteers and support staff say that the great joy is the experience of witnessing someone achieve goals and a sense of freedom that they might have thought was lost.

“I found what a powerful experience it was. It just blew all other volunteer jobs I’d had away,” says Phil Nugent, who volunteered for and sits on the board of Ignite, a ski and snowboarding adaptive program based at Eldora Mountain Resort. “I worked with one man who it took some coaching to get up the mountain. By afternoon, he got down the mountain and let out a yell like he was at a rock show.

“You see examples like this, of this courage, all the time, and it just fills you with a great feeling,” Nugent continues. “For a lot of students, Ignite is the highlight of their week or month. For many, it might be the highlight of their lives.”

Ignite offers alpine, bi/mono (sit skiing), Nordic, snowboarding and a veteran’s program, and provided more than 1,100 lessons last season to people with disabilities ranging from loss of limbs due to recent accidents to people who have been blind their entire lives.



“The vision-impaired are our biggest student population,” says John Humbrecht, the technical director for Ignite. Humbrecht explains that some students have recently lost or are losing their vision, while others have been blind since birth. He also says that working with a man who has been blind his entire life has been one of his most interesting and wild experiences as an instructor.

“This guy is amazing,” says Humbrecht. “He’s been blind since birth and skis double blacks and these giant bumps and the only communication he gets is by radio. I just tell him what the terrain is like, when to go and when to stop.”

Other vision-impaired students have an instructor ski in tandem with them, turn for turn. More advanced students with limited or no eyesight have someone ski in front of them. No verbal communication is exchanged — these skiers know where to turn based on listening to the sound of their leader’s skis.

“It’s totally incredible,” says Humbrecht. “Their other senses are so heightened, and being on the mountain gives them incredible freedom.”

Humbrecht explains that they also see a lot of students with spinal cord injuries, including people recently injured in auto accidents and soldiers returning from Afghanistan who typically can no longer walk, and many who do not have use of their arms, either.

“These are the people we get into the sit skis,” says Humbrecht. “For some, it’s a challenge, but once they get out there, they realize that they can go anywhere. There is nothing to stop them. It’s the ultimate freedom because there are no limits on the way down.”

Whether it’s in competitive or high-performance sports or a leisure activity that provides community interaction, recreation provides people of all abilities and levels with the opportunity to lead healthier lives, says Jennifer Heilveil, program coordinator for the City of Boulder’s EXPAND (Exciting Programs, Adventures and New Dimensions) program. EXPAND is run through Parks and Recreation, focuses on a variety of adaptive sports and offers support to anyone wanting to be included in general recreation programs, such as yoga or pottery.

“I think that living a quality life includes being healthy and to feel welcomed in one’s community, whether it’s sports or leisure, and EXPAND is here to help guide people,” says Heilveil, a certified recreation therapist who worked at the Paralympics in Greece. “I have seen what sports can do for someone with a physical disability. It’s life-changing.”

And, for many, what’s life-changing includes learning how to kick some butt on the mountain.

“There is a joke that some of us have with skiing,” Berman says of adaptive skiers. “It’s usually the able-bodied guy that’s holding you back.”

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by brotherjim » November 4th, 2012, 9:06 pm


Originally published Sunday, November 4, 2012 at 2:42 PM

Man climbs Chicago skyscraper with bionic leg
By MICHELLE JANAYE NEALY

The Associated Press


CHICAGO —
The metal on Zac Vawter bionic leg gleamed as he climbed 103 floors of Chicago's iconic Willis Tower, becoming the first person ever to complete the task wearing a mind-controlled prosthetic limb.

Vawter, who lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident, put the smart limb on public display for the first time during an annual stair-climbing charity event called "SkyRise Chicago" hosted by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, where he is receiving treatment.

"Everything went great," said Vawter at the event's end. "The prosthetic leg did its part, and I did my part."

The robotic leg is designed to respond to electrical impulses from muscles in his hamstring. When Vawter thought about climbing the stairs, the motors, belts and chains in his leg synchronized the movements of its ankle and knee.

The computerized prosthetic limb, like something one might see in a sci-fi film, weighs about 10 pounds and holds two motors.

Bionic - or thought-controlled - prosthetic arms have been available for a few years, thanks to pioneering work done at the Rehabilitation Institute. Knowing leg amputees outnumbering people who've lost arms and hands, the Chicago researchers are focusing more on lower limbs. If a bionic hand fails, a person drops a glass of water. If a bionic leg fails, a person falls down stairs.

This event was a research project for us, said Joanne Smith, the Rehabilitation Institute's CEO.

"We were testing the leg under extreme conditions. Very few patients who will use the leg in the future will be using it for this purpose. From that perspective, its performance was beyond measure," Smith added.

To prepare for his pioneering climb, Vawter said, he practiced on a small escalator at a gym, while researchers spent months adjusting the technical aspects of the leg to ensure that it would respond to his thoughts.

When Vawter goes home to Yelm, Wash., where he lives with his wife and two children, the experimental leg will stay behind in Chicago. Researchers will continue to refine its steering. Taking it to the market is still years away.

"We've come a long way, but we have a long way to go," said lead researcher Levi Hargrove of the institute's Center for Bionic Medicine. "We need to make rock solid devices, more than a research prototype."

The $8 million project is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and involves Vanderbilt University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Rhode Island and the University of New Brunswick.

"A lot of people say that losing a leg is like losing a loved one," said Vawter. "You go through a grieving process. You and establish a new normal in your life and move on. Today was a big event. It's just neat to be a part of the research and be a part of RIC."

Nearly, 3,000 climbers participated in the annual charity event, called SkyRise Chicago. Participants climbed about 2,100 steps to the Willis Tower's SkyDeck level to raise money for the institute's rehabilitation care and research

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by brotherjim » November 5th, 2012, 8:01 am

Here is an excerpt from Chuck Pagano's (Indianapolis Colts Head coach) yesterday. He is battling Leukemia. It is very inspirational and if you search the web, there are many video links to see or hear it. I edited one word.

"I mentioned before the game that you guys were living in a vision and you weren't living in circumstances. Because you know where they had us in the beginning. Every last one of them. But you refused to live in circumstances and you decided consciously, as a team, and as a family, to live in a vision. And that's why you bring things home like you brought home today. That's why you're already champions, and well on your way. I got circumstances. You guys understand it. I understand it. It's already beat. It's already beat. My vision that I'm living, see two more daughters getting married, dancing at their weddings, and then hoisting that Lombardi several times and watch that confetti fall on this *#@* group right here. Several times, we're going to hoist that baby. I'm dancing at two more weddings. And we're hoisting that trophy together man. Congratulations."

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by brotherjim » November 11th, 2012, 12:57 pm

Image

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by AndrewAugenstein » March 20th, 2014, 11:22 am

"It's all about my own shape and knowing if I'm going to be half decent or a bag of wet towels. You don't know that until you start racing and pushing."
ParaLympicsSochi 2014!

Russia's Anna Milenina celebrates winning gold in the women's 1km sprint standing event on Day 5 of Sochi 2014.
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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by brotherjim » March 20th, 2014, 1:35 pm

Great article Andrew thanks for posting this. This weeks SI has some pictures and articles about the Paralympics .I watched the sled hockey gold medal game and could not believe the hard checks and speed of the game. Great win for the USA.

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by AndrewAugenstein » March 21st, 2014, 7:50 pm

Sign the virtual ‪#‎Paralympic‬ wall here to support a world without barriers >> http://chn.ge/1nJqvYQ

"This is a Paralympic Wall to show our support for principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Inspired by the participants of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, their achievements, courage and determination, we commit to a world without barriers and limits to human abilities". -Paralympic Wall in Sochi

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Re: Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

Post by AndrewAugenstein » March 25th, 2014, 3:49 pm


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