ENGLISH 124 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Bodymind, Social Stigma, Cerebral Palsy
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Sports is where everybody counts, effort is rewarded, and there are no barriers. - loretta. Even in 2015, people like me, people with significant physical disabilities, are not supposed to play sports. There is nothing wrong with adaptive activities, but it"s important not to confuse recreational adaptations with playing competitive sports. By the early 1970s, most competitive disabled sports held national tournaments and competed in international competitions such as the paralympics and the pan american games. Athletics asks disabled people to break through a million assumptions of weakness, incompetence, and powerlessness. Disabled sports in the united states begin with the first wheelchair basketball game in 1946. Women"s wheelchair basketball provided me with an experience i never had before. I got to fly across a room much faster than my legs could ever carry me. Teams of five players can field up to twelve player points" on the court at any time.