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?

10 Traits of a Networker

A networker must...

10. Work their network
 9. Sincerity
 8. Enjoy helping others 
 7. Gratitude
 6. Always network
 5. Good listening skills
 4. Trustworthy
 3. Enthusiasm
 2. Positive Attitude 
 1. Follow Up Referral ** Most important

Horses for Heroes

For awhile I've been interested in equine therapy, a form of recreation specially designed for those with disabilities ranging from back injuries to depression. This is a video that introduces the idea of therapeutic riding and the benifits it can have.

Fed Up

There was a documentary that came out a while ago about how sugar in our foods is killing us off at an alarming rate. Now, I know this is a little off topic from our main focus on accessible recreation, but we spend so much time talking about how to accommodate people with disabilities they can't change and none on how we could prevent the ones we can. Unfortunately the massive amount of sugars in our diets is causing obesity and type 2 diabetes in kids younger and younger each year. As the obesity levels rise it poses a major threat not only to accessible recreation but to recreation as a whole. Just some food for thought. 

Growing Pains of a Teenage Genius

Cameron Thompson is amazing at mathematics and has been diagnosed with aspergers.

Physics Genius

Jacob Barnet is a 13 year old giving a TED talk. It would be hard to tell from the video but Jacob has autism and has learned at an early age how to use it to his advantage.

Things Diabetics Say

Here's an awesome video from Lorielle Record about diabetics and the daily struggle they face against sugar.

The Little Mermaid

Such a smart, sweet, amazing girl who has a conditions nicknamed, "Mermaid Syndrome." She has such an incredible personality and outlook.

Innovative Therapeutic Riding Program

This week I got to volunteer with the Innovative Therapeutic Riding Program down in Idaho Falls, Idaho. I was really impressed with what I saw there. If you don't know what Equine Assisted Therapy is, it's a type of therapy that uses horses to help communicate with and strengthen disabled individuals. It's scope includes children with autism or physical deformities to adults with PTSD or trauma victims. One of the kids there had some developmental and physical delays and was doing a lesson that involved guiding the horse to certain colored cones, stopping, backing up, and trotting. While he was trotting, he landed in the saddle slightly off balance and slipped off the horse onto the ground. I thought because of her disability he probably wouldn't get back on but he did, and without hesitation. It takes a really strong personality to recover from a fall and I was really impressed with him. I wouldn't consider his disability to be something that holds him back at all, if anything it's made him stronger.

JUST ASK

Two people with sensory disabilities share their insights on disability.

TALK TO ME

The story of an amazing young girl with a disability that won't disable her. 

Lesson on "R" Mountain

The video that really stood out to me was the one about a man who couldn't see and yet climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest, one of the most dangerous peaks in the world. I think it stood out because it changed my perspective. I think I was in the same mindset of the man who said it would be hard to get a blind man up to the top of the mountain. It also stood out to me because just a couple days before I watched the video I had a similar experience. (I'll be changing names.)

For those of you who've been to rexburg you probably know about "R Mountain" or Menan Buttes. I come from a background of frequent hiking and backpacking so R mountain barely counts as a warmup in my book. With this mind set I invited 2 of my roommates and an FHE brother to climb it with me one night. I already knew that one of my roommates, Jane, has severe anxiety and asthma so I planned on pacing the climb with her to keep her from having an asthma or panic attack. The second roommate, Megan, had never left Manhattan, In the parking to the mountain Joe (FHE Bro) also told me that he was afraid of heights. Jane wanted to get to the top quickly so she and I ended up ahead of Megan and Jo even with me making her slow down or stop when I noticed her breathing getting gaspy. Once we got to the top I decided to head back down as the sun was getting low and I wanted to check on the other 2. What I found on my way back down taught me a fast lesson. Megan was sitting on the ground looking panicked and Joe was on all fours looking terrified, unable to move. After a lot of calming I was able to talk both of them off the mountain but I will never again disregard chronic fears, or handle a group of people like this one the same way again. Knowing about the emotional states of my group members,  I should have kept the group together and watched for discomfort in them before it got paralyzing. All of them were determined to get to the top, it was just poor leadership that got in the way.

Although it's not the same as guiding a blind man up Everest, it taught me about paying attention to, learning about, and ajusting for peoples needs. This was the foundation for my outline this week. Fears, anxiety, asthma, and panic attacks are fairly common minor disabilities that need to be accounted and ajusted for. My question however, is how to do this in a way that isn't demeaning, patronizing or that makes people feel disabled or how to handle groups of people with different needs and dynamics.