Good Bye Quickie GP

It's time to wrap up my experience in the wheelchair. This past Monday night I sadly returned my new friend, the Quickie GP. The week went by rather quick and I would like to think that I "adapted" to the chair fairly well. It was rough going the first couple of days, but after I worked out the kinks things got a lot smoother. Although I did not quite perfect the wheelie like I had hoped, it sure was fun trying.

After last Wednesday I had a pretty boring rest of the week. The weather did get pretty nice so we went outside around the neighborhood. You do not realize how bumpy a sidewalk is until you have to stroll around in one. That is one thing that held true the whole week...every time I left the apartment I did experience something new. The last day was another day at school with time spent in the gym. I had the students play volleyball and after class I stuck around to hit the ball around. I must admit that it is not very much fun playing volleyball by yourself in a wheelchair. I did find that I was better at hitting the ball over the net than I was shooting three pointers though. I look forward to taking part in some wheelchair sports this semester just to see how tough it really is.

All in all it was a great experience that I am glad I had the opportunity to take part in. This was something that you can not prepare yourself for if you have never been in a wheelchair. I tried to imagine what it would be like and as soon as I sat down in it for the first time all that went out the window. Every day was a new challenge and with it a greater appreciation for those who have to do this on a daily basis. The whole time I kept thinking that if I ever found myself permanently in a chair that at least I would have some sports to keep me occupied. Anyone that grew up playing sports, you realize that it is something you will take with you the rest of your life. You can not let anything get in the way of your passion and always keep finding ways to overcome obstacles.

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Speech/Hearing Loss Simulation

In this past Monday's class we spent some time simulating both speech and hearing loss. Many people are afflicted with this type of disability and I will admit that I have an easier time getting around in the wheelchair than I did trying to communicate with my hands. I have always thought learning sign language would be a great thing to do. I am sure I am not alone in the fact that, although I have had the intentions of learning, I still have not made the actual effort.

We did not spend time learning sign language (other than the motion for "Simon says"), but instead tried several activities to show just how difficult the task was. We all now how important communication is in our everyday lives. When you are reliant on verbal communication you learn very quickly how hard it is when you have that taken away. In our first task we played a great game of "Simon says". The class was split into two groups of five with one group being able to hear, but not speak, and the other able to speak, but not hear. Initially we did not know the sign for "Simon says" which made for some interesting hand gestures to simulate that phrase. Everyone took turns going through different motions and after a short amount of time we all had a pretty good handle on things. Then the rules changed to wear everyone was neither able to hear or speak and one person was giving the directions while the rest of the class followed along. It made it very clear to us that proper signing would be imperative to effective communication.

Next was the most competitive classroom game of baseball you will probably ever find. Of course no actual baseballs or bats were used for safety reasons. Being adaptive athletics professionals we found the next best things, a leg from a table and a fuzzy yarn ball. Again we were put in two groups of five and each team had someone (me for my group) to explain the game to the rest of the team (we pretended no one had ever played baseball before). Even though we were able to speak the directions we were to use body/hand signals to enhance the instructions. I hate to admit that my team lost on a three run home run past our defenders and over the desks, but plenty of fun was had by all.

We finished off our time with a basic but fun game of tic tac toe. Again, we pretended our partner had never played before and explained the rules and object of the game. Most of the instructions were given by writing and going through several tic tac toe scenarios to cover all aspects of the game. You would not think something so simple as a game of X's and O's would present difficulties, but it did. Half of the battle is trying to pretend you do not know how to play the game in the first place. Each partner took turns explaining and playing a couple of games before we divided into two groups again for a game of big board tic tac toe. It turned into a game of who could point and grunt the best so the team leader knew where to make the mark. Technically the grunting should not have helped, but I think by that time we forgot that we were not suppose to be able to hear either.

Even though we spend a limited amount of time on these simulations, I still leave with a greater appreciation for what people have to go through with their disabilities. I try to never take for granted what I have, but you never realize how hard some things are to do until you try them for a bit. It is only then that you can think of ways to improve the experiences for someone with disabilities. This experience might just be the thing to finally get me around to learning sign language. You never know when that ability could come in handy and make a big difference in someone's experience.

In the next couple of days I will finish summing up my time in the wheelchair. The last few days have been pretty uneventful and tomorrow is the last day with my new friend. Then again later in the week I will have another post about whatever fun we end up doing in tomorrow night's class.

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A Daunting Day on Campus (Day 2 with "The Chair")

Ironically, I found myself more nervous today going somewhere I am familiar with versus the shopping areas yesterday. I think that the anxiety came from the fact that in the year I have been at this school I have not seen one disabled student in this building. The building I often refer to is where the kinesiology department, athletic offices, basketball gym, student fitness center, and campus recreation are housed. I found this observation very disheartening because I wondered how many students with any disabilities do not come here because there is not enough equipment or options for them to utilize. Granted this school is known as a "commuter school", but that is still no excuse for not accommodating all students.

It seems like every time I get in the chair, within several minutes, I am encountering some sort of issue. Not only was it around -3 degrees windchill this morning, but I also had to figure out how I would get my laptop bag and a cup of coffee on my lap and into the building without scalding myself. I seemed to find every crack and hole from the parking lot to the building, but was lucky enough to only almost tip over twice (once forward and once backward). I navigated my way to the graduate assistant's office upstairs without any major problems and faced the first of many (felt like hundreds) questions about why I was in a wheelchair. I did not mind answering any of them and all of the students seemed genuinely intrigued about this class I am in and why we had to do this. I definitely took the time to answer any questions and share my experience thus far. I found it odd that out of the nearly 70 students in the three classes I am in charge of, not one student said they had been in a wheelchair for any reason before.

I did get a chance to shoot around after I had my class play basketball this morning. I feel like I am an above average basketball player, but today felt like I was learning the sport all over again. All my life I have been taught to "use your legs Andrew". Never did I realize how much you do use your legs until I tried shooting a simple layup and missed the first three times. My three pointer attempts looked like those 3/4 prayer shots you see at the end of a game (which I obviously missed). I can't wait to go to a wheelchair basketball game sometime to see how the game is really played. Then in the afternoon I attempted to lift some weights and found I was very limited in what I could do there. Shoulder presses and dumb bell curls were the extent of what I had available to me. Maybe I was spoiled by the fact that I know there are some great cable machines that are designed for people in wheelchairs and was jealous that I did not have them to use. I did try though and that is half the battle.

By the time I returned home I think I was just as much mentally exhausted as physically (my lower back was ABSOLUTELY killing me). My hands were starting to bother me towards the end of the day as I found myself constantly moving around the rooms I was in. This did not really surprise me all that much since I normally pace around everywhere anyway. So I will be looking for some sort of gloves to wear next time I will be on campus all day (which will not be until next Monday). Even though this was just the second full day in the chair I secretly wanted it to be over already. Luckily I do not have as busy of a schedule the rest of the week, but I will try to find scenarios to get out and about as much as possible.

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Day One with "The Chair"

We just returned from my first venture out into the public with the wheelchair. Tuesday is an off day for me and with it being around a windchill of 0 here, it would have been easy to just stay inside all day. But...what fun would that have been. It was too tempting to head down the road to a mall and sporting goods store. I figured going during a slow time of the week was the best idea for my first day out in public. Also, just to note that we took Ashley's car today which has a bigger trunk...so lesson learned from last night's troubles with my trunk.

The mall was the first stop and the first thing I noticed myself doing was looking for ramps as we went to our normal parking area. Sure enough there were plenty to choose from. As we entered the mall I told Ashley (my girlfriend) to look at people's faces to see what type of reactions we got. I would have kept an eye out for this, but I was too busy making sure I didn't run into anything. We made our way to the food court only with the occasional stare. Ashley got her food then came over to where I was going to get food from and helped me with that. Little kids seemed to have the most perplexed looks on their faces most likely wondering why an adult was in a stroller like them. Eating was not a problem as I was easily able to stroll up to the tables. Once we finished eating it was time to go exploring.

Next stop was American Eagle. Ashley still has X-mas gift cards to use and I was curious to see if the wheelchair would even fit in between all the clothing displays. Much to my surprise I had no problem getting around and in between everything. I'm sure if this had been a weekend day with more people shopping I would not have had the same ease of time. After we were done there I wanted to go somewhere downstairs which meant we had to find an elevator. You never really concern yourself where they are otherwise. The only one I remembered seeing was near the food court so we headed back that way. Then we perused downstairs just for a bit before finding another elevator to leave the mall.

Before heading back home we stopped by Sports Authority. Obviously being a big sports person I was looking forward to going in here and seeing how the chair maneuvered around. I was disappointed that although the main aisles were big enough, if I ventured off I was not able to fit between all the clothing racks. This made for a frustrating time since I couldn't actually see everything (even though I wasn't actually in there to buy anything).

Tomorrow will be an interesting day as I am sure my students will wonder what is going on. In my leisure activities class I am having them play basketball so I may join in since I am rolling in a made for basketball wheelchair. The other two classes are weight training that I mostly just supervise, but I am going to attempt to try some lifts to see how hard it is. One other thing I forgot to mention last night was the different perspective you get when your eyes are not at standing level. Leaving the campus building I noticed that one of my students is an All-American on the track team. Her picture is towards the bottom of the wall (which I walk by a lot) and I do not think I would have noticed that had I not been in the chair. So thank you Quickie GP for opening my eyes.

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My new best friend...the Quickie GP wheelchair

Ok, so my previous post today was suppose to be done last week but you caught me slacking. In tonight's class we simulated not being able to speak as well as some hearing loss. I will write about that later in the week, but right now I want to touch on my first hour with a wheelchair. You might remember me mentioning in the Disability Sport Class post that I would have to use a wheelchair for a week. Well this happens to my week.

Needless to say that within the first five minutes of having the chair I realized how difficult this week will be. First off the model chair I was given is a Quickie GP (a link I found from SPORTAID that sells these chairs) and the backrest folds down and rear wheels have quick release mechanism, so you know what I am working with. As I exit the building I quickly find out my chair has an alignment issue and pulls to the left. To counter this I must put more force into the left wheel to keep the chair straight. This wouldn't be much of a problem if I was left handed or if I was a body builder. Those of you that do not know me I am a runner and have a runner's body (i.e. I DON'T HAVE BIG ARMS) so I plan to be plenty sore after these seven days are up.

Next issue arises a couple of minutes later when I get to my car. I wish I had a Transformer model wheelchair that folds up into a little box but unfortunately that was not an option. The car I drive does not have a big trunk and after numerous attempts to get it in I got frustrated and just threw it in my back seat (we are allowed to get out of the chairs to load and unload out of our vehicles since we don't have wheelchair accessible rides). Yes, I probably should have went that route in the first place, but I could not figure out why it would not just fit in the trunk. If it wasn't so cold outside I would probably still be in that parking lot trying to get that chair in the trunk (some may call me stubborn).

Fortunate for me I have wheelchair access to the main door of my apartment. I never realized how steep the ramp was until tonight though. For safety sake I did have my girlfriend stand behind me (no wheelie bars on this model). I will admit that was a good workout and my abs (yes I said abs, not arms) hurt more than when I did a medicine ball workout earlier today.

I will be writing a few posts throughout the week as I am sure I will encounter more obstacles along the way. I may even attempt a video blog so you all can see the fun I will be having. So make sure to keep tuning in all week long and look for my post later this week about the non-speaking simulation we did in class tonight. Like I have mentioned before, feel free to leave comments, preferrably with advice and encouragement =)

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Visual Impairments Activity

One cannot anticipate how difficult it would be without sight until you are blindfolded and told to walk around and/or shoot a basketball. Those that attempt this still have the luxury of taking the blindfold off, whereas someone that is blind does not have that choice. Visual impairments were the focus of this class and it was interesting to say the least. Being blindfolded was not the only task, but also mimicking other visual disorders by drawing objects by viewing them thru a mirror.

My group started off with the blindfolds and in a way it felt like cheating. The building we were in is one on campus that I am in on a daily basis. Having some familiarity gave me an advantage, but I still noticed that I picked my feet up more than usual. We also had a guide person (classmate) that would give verbal queues which stressed the importance of communication. There were obstacles such as tables, chairs, trash cans, and stairs, but having someone with vision by your side made it comforting.

Then we made our way down to the basketball court. Having played basketball since I was a little kid, I felt comfortable in this arena. The challenge was to shoot a free throw and hope you came close. Again, we had a helper to line us up and give verbal directions as to our aim. I was fortunate enough to make one on the second try (two guys made it on their first, damn them), but others provided more entertainment with their not near misses. This activity portrayed the importance of muscle memory for those that have a basketball background. It definitely gives you a greater appreciation for those that can succeed in an environment like this without their sight.

Would you think that drawing a circle, square, triangle, straight lines, or even writing your own name while looking through a mirror could present you with any problems? I can tell you firsthand that it is not easy! You would think that since you look in a mirror to get dressed, comb your hair, or brush your teeth, that writing/drawing would not be any more difficult. Drawing a circle gave me the most trouble. I believe it took about five attempts to get a figure that was somewhat circle/oval shaped. On a daily basis there are people with visual impairment that struggle with these so called simple tasks.

Unfortunately our night was cut short due to a wonderful snow storm coming through the Midwest, but it was a great lesson none the less. Although you get a feel for the difficulties others go through everyday, that’s all it is, a feel. You can never really know what someone with any visual impairment goes through unless you yourself suffer from a visual disorder. Any time you try to plan an activity or sport you must take into consideration everyone’s needs to ensure a good time is had by all. I know I enjoyed my experience and look forward to what the rest of the semester brings.

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Disablity Sport Class

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I just got home from my first class of the spring semester, Disability Sport. This course should provide me with plenty of material to write about. Each week we will be taking part in a different adaptive sport and are required to write a two page paper about the activity and our thoughts. So I will post an abbreviated version for all to read. On top of that we have to borrow a wheelchair from the school and use it for a week. This should be interesting and quite the learning experience given that I have not so much as broke a leg and had to be in a wheelchair. I know it is a small amount of time since some of you reading this have to deal with a wheelchair on a daily basis for most of or all your life, but I welcome the opportunity to be exposed to this aspect. We will not only be experiencing wheelchair sports but also adaptive sports for the blind as well as deaf. Other than working with Lose The Training Wheels last summer, helping to teach kids with cognitive disabilities how to ride a bike, this will be my first exposure to adaptive sports. Also, as I mentioned in my last post I will be looking for some volunteer opportunities with some adaptive athletic organizations around the St. Louis area to gain further experience. Please feel free to leave comments or shoot me a message with some of the obstacles you encounter being a disabled athlete or any ideas you would like me explore.

Best wishes for a Great 2009!

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