Bethany Hamilton

So, what if you're not born disabled? Bethany Hamilton started surfing early in life and didn't let a shark attack change her outlook on recreation or let it stop her from becoming a pro surfer.

Making Recreation Accessible...Skydiving!!!

Nick shows what it really means to make recreation accessible. Skydiving with no arms or legs? Totally Possible!

The More Difficult the Struggle, The More Glorious the Triumph.

Silent Dancing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeyD9GalW5w

So you would think that to dance you have to be able to hear the music. But one woman from China proved that wrong in her performance of The Soul of the Peacock. She has since graduated with a bachelors in fine arts. It's not a style of dance we usually see but I thought it was incredible especially since she can't hear the music or the beat. 

Hiking "R" Mountain Blind

I learned a lot hiking R Mountain blind. 

1. It is sooo much easier to follow someones voice rather than their instructions.                  

      ("Turn right. No Left! Lefter!! *crash*") 

2. People are helpful. Shoutout to the random guy who helped talk me up the steep bit. I had no idea who you are but your voice was quite pleasant. 

3. Being blind makes you quite aware of sound and smell and unfortunately the cold. 

4. That Chain though!! Sooo nice

5. R Mt. is accessible to the blind as proven by the blind version of me. 

6. Although we try to make as many recreations available to all disabilities I couldn't really justify why I was hiking if I couldn't see the view. I would keep in mind how much enjoyment you can really get out of an activity with certain  disabilities. 

Inspiration Porn and the Objectification of Disability

Stella Young gave this TED talk in Sydney, Australia this year about some of the mistakes we're making concerning our expectations of disabled people. In her opinion, we are giving disabled people too much credit for "getting out of bed and remembering their own name". From her own experiences she believes that by telling disabled people awards and assigning them inspirational quotes, that we are objectifying them as people with terrible lives who are defined by their disability rather than their accomplishments. At first I was a little skeptical of her speech because it sounded harsh and biased but by the end of the speech I could see her point. What makes a man with one leg who manages to take the garbage out every day more exceptional than a physically whole man who goes to work and raises a family? I guess the point is that we all have our disabilities and obstacles to overcome but we objectify those whose disabilities are obvious. There are many sides to this debate. What's your opinion?

Gimp Monkeys

I was in love with this video from about the 0:05 second mark on. The story of these 3 guys who don't let a disability get in the way of an incredibly hard sport. They recognize that they have a disability but they can also see that everyone has a disability whether it be physical, mental, or emotional. One of the guys in the video talked about how it's all about identifying what disability you have and using it to your advantage. What kind of disabilities do you have and how can you use them?