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Disabled athletes:
By Brad N. Hedrick In the academic arena, these persistent efforts have allowed qualified physically disabled students to enroll in any of the University's curricular programs. Recognizing that comparable educational opportunities for physically disabled students require equivalent extracurricular offerings, the Rehabilitation Education Center has maximized the capacity of existing extracurricular programs. When unresolved deficiencies in existing extracurricular offerings were observed, the Center developed additional recreational and athletic programs to complement existing ones and fill these voids. The Center, in conjunction with Delta Sigma Omicron (the University's disabled student organization), augments the leisure options available to physically disabled students by providing a wide array of recreational and athletic programs. Most notable of these programs is the Center's extensive offerings of wheelchair sports, which may be pursued either recreationally or as varsity athletics. Recreationally, students participate in such activities as wheelchair football, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair softball, adapted swimming, archery, badminton and volleyball. In addition, disabled students have the opportunity to engage in wheelchair square dancing, performing the same intricate maneuvers as regular square dancers. Modified team handball is provided for the most severely disabled quadriplegic students. Many of the students who normally require the use of electric wheelchairs for everyday function have found themselves capable Illinois Parks and Recreation 16 November/December 1984 of participating successfully in their manual chairs. Eligible disabled male and female athletes receive varsity recognition from the Athletic Association for meritorious performance in wheel-chair basketball, wheelchair track and field, swimming, archery and table tennis. Athletes involved in these sports are given the opportunity to compete at both the regional and national levels. Many disabled athletes have attained world class status and have qualified for international competition in England, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Isreal and Holland. In track and field, table tennis and swimming events, athletes compete exclusively against those individuals with whom they share comparable physical potential. Individuals representing all levels of physical functioning, from quadriplegics to ambulatory amputees, have an equal opportunity to excell in their selected sports. In basketball, a point system is based on the competitor's level of functioning. This controls team composition and ensures the vitality of the roles of the most disabled participants. It has often been assumed that potential wheelchair sports' participants must be confined to a wheelchair for eligibility in the competition. This assumption is totally inaccurate. Although individuals who require the use of wheelchairs are certainly eligible, participants need not be confined to one to play. Any individual who, because of a permanent physical impairment of the lower extremities is rendered incapable of functioning within the normal sport context, is eligible for participation in wheelchair sports. Individuals
Illinois Parks and Recreation 17 November/December 1984 who, for example, have orthopedic impairments of their lower extremities which only slightly impede their normal ambulation, may qualify for participation in wheelchair sports. Their respective impairments are severe enough to preclude their active engagement (running, jumping, etc.) in regular sports programs. In addition to wheelchair sports, which were exclusively designed for individuals with impaired lower extremity functions, visually impaired students may participate athletically in goal ball, track and field, and swimming. Those who demonstrate meritorious performance in track, field and swimming also qualify as varsity letter award recipients. They, too, have opportunities to participate in regional, national and international competitions. Visually impaired athletes with varying degrees of visual loss are also guaranteed equitable competition via the implementation of a classification system. Athletes only compete with other individuals who have comparable visual capabilities. If visually impaired students prefer to engage in activities on a recreational basis, an array of options is available to them. The Center has provided programming, according to demand, in softball, water polo, wrestling, karate, ice skating and horseback riding. With proper preparation and training, the visually impaired can often be mainstreamed into many existing recreational programs. Thus, the programming offered by the Center often only entails the orientation of individuals to the setting, personnel, equipment, etc. In horseback riding, for example, visually impaired equestrians are oriented to the stable facilities, riding track and riding mechanics. They are then allowed to pursue the activity independent of any specialized programming. This example epitomizes the Center's attempts to provide programming which augments the capacity of existing recreational programs and facilities to assimilate physically disabled clientele. In competitive athletics, segregated, specialized programming is necessary to ensure the equitable status of the athletes. However, in recreational programs, the least obtrusive means possible is utilized to facilitate the disabled individual's use of existing facilities, programs and resources. Finally, opportunities are evolving for students with cerebral palsy to engage in exclusively organized competitive athletics at the regional, national and even international levels. Sports included within this realm are track and field, weightlifting, swimming, bowling and archery. Like the wheelchair and visually impaired athletes, athletes with cerebral palsy are guaranteed equitable competition via the implementation of a functionally-based classification system.
None of the recreational and athletic programs highlighted in this article have received financial support from the University, its Athletic Association, or the State or federal government. The disabled students themselves, as members of Delta Sigma Omicron, have had the responsibility of organizing and executing fund-raising activities and seeking private philanthropic support to underwrite these endeavors. They have done so, although it is Delta Sigma Omicron's policy to contribute 50 percent of its income from such fund-raising endeavors to services and research serving the disabled. In this manner. Delta Sigma Omicron has been able to generate in excess of $200,000 for scientific research and educative services for the disabled.
Some of the most important lessons of a person's collegiate career are learned outside the classroom. This is especially salient for individuals with physical disabilities. Although intellectual development is of paramount
Illinois Parks and Recreation 18 November/December 1984 concern, the disabled individual's perceptions of his or her physical and social competencies must be emphasized as well. These are the psychological aspects which are most often adversely affected by the onset of a physical disability. College attendance is often the disabled person's first real opportunity to optimally develop a self image of competence regarding his (or her) capacity to physically function independent of assistance or supervision. The Rehabilitation Education Center has not only worked to promote optimal normalcy regarding the academic careers which disabled students might pursue, but it has also emphasized the normalization of their social, recreational and athletic options. In this manner, disabled students not only have opportunities to enhance their self-perceptions of their academic competency, but also their physical and social capabilities as well.
Illinois Parks and Recreation 19 November/December 1984 |
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