Personal Narrative: From Beach Gazelles

Special Olympics Approximately 400,000 people in the United States have Down syndrome. Autism affects 1 in 68 children and that number continues to flourish. There is no cure for autism or Down syndrome and they shouldn’t be ridiculed for something out of their control. Aside from the negativity, people with disabilities continue to persevere. The athletes in the Special Olympics are empowered and embraced by the organization, strangers, their family, and their friends.

On Saturday, September 9th, I went to the Enabling Aquatics session at the YMCA in Santa Rosa. I went from 10:15 to 12:40.     When I first got to the YMCA I met up with the main coordinator, Kelly, who gave us a tour of the YMCA on where to go and where to sign in when we first arrive. We got in our bathing suits and then we went into the therapy pool (which is a 4 feet deep and 95 degrees), filled with volunteers and students who had disabilities which ranged from autism to cerebral palsy to someone with physical deficiencies. I have worked with children who had disabilities in the past but I haven’t  worked as much with adults.

Have you ever been paralyzed before, or had an accident that caused you to stop playing a sport? In passage 1, Paige Taylor talks about how you can play a sport while you are disabled. In passage 2, Sachin V. Walker talks about St.Germaine and how he has recovered with his use of the wheelchair. Wheelchairs exist for people who are disabled,allowing them to play their sport. These wheelchairs allow athletes to participate in a variety of sports.

“The Access for All Abilities program plays a crucial role in supporting state government policy that promotes individual choice, the use of inclusive community settings and bridging the regional-metro gap in terms of physical activity and health outcomes for people with disabilities (Regional Sport Victoria, 2014, p. 4). National Disability strategy It’s a national approach to enabling people with a disability to reach their potential and participate equally. Outcomes: • Inclusive and accessible

Being taught the proper way to speak about disabilities really helps, I am now trying to speak in “ Person first” so as not to discriminate or place a stigma upon a person’s shoulders. When I eventually become a teacher all the new information I learned about diversity and disabilities in SED 125 such as knowing that not all children learn the same way or that some children may have a bigger struggle than others, and how to build healthy positive relationships with my future student. I will try to apply all the new information to my classroom

1 It helps people who have disabilities to be able to write their own papers , and even sometimes it helps them be able to speak a little. It helps children with disabilities be able to do their homework too. 2 It demonstrate that they are not just labeled with the disability they have , but instead it shows them that they can easily do just as much and as good as the other children can do.

It is not just in the United States though, Special Olympics reaches out to people around the world providing people with intellectual disabilities in more than 170 countries with the experience. The main goal of Special Olympics is to push for inclusion and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities everywhere. Special Olympics hosts events such as the summer games, where they can participate in track and field events, along with unified sports teams, such as soccer. The unified teams bring people together and break down the barrier between stereotypes. However, Special Olympics goes way beyond just the sports.

In our society, people with and without disabilities are granted rights. Throughout history, disabled people weren’t granted as many rights as people without disabilities. Disability rights have expanded greatly since the 1800s where they were forced to be put in institutions. Now, disabled people have many rights wherever they go and many people have impacted that change. Many concepts have been expanded greatly such as ramps, elevators, closed captioning, etc. to be able to support the people with

Oscar competed in an international track meet against able-bodied athletes and his astonishing performance prompted a series of tests to be run by German scientists. They concluded that his Flex-Foot Cheetahs gave him an unfair advantage and he was banned from competing in any future events with able-bodied athletes. In an effort to disprove this research and eliminate negativity towards prosthetic athletes, scientists in Massachusetts invited Oscar for extensive studies. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology tested his rate of fatigue first.

For example some fitness machines are not made to accommodate people with disabilities. There are environmental and physical barriers that limit what people with disabilities can do and this limits them from potentially living a healthier life. They also have a lower priority when it comes to funding and support in health intervention and promotion programs. We need to help change our communities into places that strongly support healthy eating and active living. Healthy People 2020 enforces the fact that Americans need to maintain a healthy wait which is achieved by three guidelines provided by Healthy People 2020.

Ableism is the discrimination towards the disabled-bodied and favors the abled-bodied population; this is exemplified by many people and events. The first example is the Olympics; in Olympics, majority of the athletes are able, and they are very few disabled athletes who participate in the Olympics. In this example, Olympics focuses on having abled-bodied athletes to play in the games, but the disabled need to work hard to match the able-bodied athletes’ skills which only few disabled athletes can do it. Ableism is illustrated through the comparison of abled-bodied and disabled-bodied capabilities. In Canadian society, the disabled-bodied are not given chances to create awareness for themselves in different events which ranges from local events to international events.

Today people try to help disabled people by having elevators in public places, closer parkings, wheelchair ramps and much more. But in my opinion cars are not fully developed yet. For example today's cars can not provide transportation to any blind people, which means if a blind person today would like to drive his car, he can not do it by himself. Not just blind people experience this problem. Other people that do not have hands or legs can not steer the steering wheel or push the gas peddle.

Also, having that experience and learning will be beneficial in order to gain public's attention on why we need more support towards people with disabilities. People are still being discriminated towards having some type of disability if we can voice our opinion why it's not okay to treat them differently can also create a big impact on the way they are being treated every single day. If we can participate and be an advocate for social movement then we can help to fill the missing pieces of our

I have been sitting at my home-made desk all day, just wondering how to stand out to someone who will read hundreds of cookie-cutter essays preaching diversity and inclusiveness. Looking at me, you would think I am just like everyone else. After all, I am a white, heterosexual male with no grand experiences or adventures to tell. Growing up in a diminutive, unpretentious town in Western Kentucky where everybody knows everybody, one would think I am just like everybody. On the surface, there is nothing different about me.

Persons with a disability have implications of access, promoting social inclusion through technologies, employment as well as the justice system. However there are limitations and so social inclusion can be further promoted. At a micro level of society, there are implications of access through technologies to allow social inclusion by providing equipment for persons with a disability. This can help persons with a disability participate in activities that they may be limited to. For example, the Oasis Aquatic and Leisure Centre raised approximately $4000 for the implementation of technologies in the centre, for persons with a disability.