Back so soon? Yep. Well, I have written something for sports writing class that I thought would make a great blog post so I have decided to put it on here. I was going to put it next week but today is International Day of Persons With Disabilities so I thought it would be best to post it today.
For one of my writings, we had to write a column and I wrote it on getting adaptive sports programs in colleges which is something that needs to be addressed (it has already but there needs to be more). I hope you enjoy this and feel free to share!
Here it is:
Did you know that there
are about 49 million people with a disability in the United States? If the
numbers are so high then how come there aren’t more adaptive sports programs in
colleges? Well that needs to change.
In
the past few years, there has been a great deal of need of adaptive sports
programs to be added to colleges and universities. In 2009, American Collegiate
Society of Adapted Athletes was formed to spread awareness towards creating
adaptive sports programs to help disabled athletes have somewhere to go when
they graduate high school. Right now, there are only 23 colleges/universities
that offer adaptive sports and there are more than 4,800 colleges/universities
overall. See the problem here? It’s time that more schools start offering these
sports programs as the number of disabled athletes too is growing.
Ok, I can see why you’re going to say ‘uh why? Why is it
really necessary for adapted sports programs?’ How many athletes are really going
to be going to the school and will take part in the program? How exactly is the
school going to pay for the new program? There will need to be money for
salaries (new coaches), equipment (even though many athletes have their own),
and whatever else that will be needed for the programs. Well honestly, every
single question can be answered and yes, it is necessary for these programs to
be formed.
Now before I go into why adapted sports programs in
colleges are necessary, let me tell you what my search for college was like.
First, I am an adaptive athlete and do the sports of track & field, table
tennis, archery and at one point, fencing. When I was looking into colleges, I
was looking for schools that had sports programs whether adapted or open to
adapted but do you want to know what I found? Nothing. At least nothing in New
Jersey. So I decided to stick with focusing on education and continue being a
part of the Children’s Lightning Wheels but even that has to come to an end at
some point. What’s next?
Do you know how much more diversed sports would be if colleges/universities
included adapted sports? Athletes would get to know one another and learn about
each other’s sports and how those athletes do their sports. Isn’t this country
all about diversity and getting to know different cultures? Well this is exactly
the same! A baseball player can get to know a disabled field athlete. A
wheelchair track athlete can show a non-disabled track athlete how they use
their arms instead of their legs. It gives everyone growth and it will lead to
more diversity in other areas of sports, not just college.
Hello! Can’t you see there will be many more opportunities
open for people with disabilities? It’s time that people with disabilities get
the same recognition as other groups. I mean, we are the biggest minority group
in the world. Did you know that? Of course not. Why would you? We’re the last
group people think about. But there are 49 million people in the United States
alone that have a disability which is 20 percent of the country’s population.
Shocking huh? Well if colleges bring adapted sports programs to their schools,
people will start seeing people with disabilities as people and might actually
consider looking more into how to better equality for those.
Now having these sports programs in colleges will lead to
more across the country like in public school (middle and high schools) and
programs like the Lightning Wheels which will lead to more athletes. More
athletes means more students and that could bring the tuition down because more
students equals less to pay. Sounds like a plan to me. Don’t you agree? Also,
these athletes will no longer be “hidden” away in their homes and take part in
the world which could lead to a better economy. Don’t we all want that?
You still don’t agree? All right then, how about this?
Why don’t colleges allow people with disabilities take part in the sports
programs that are in session now? Like if a school has a track team, let a
wheelchair track athlete be on the team and create a wheelchair division, you
know like how the high schools do it. If numbers rise in the amount of disabled
athletes then the school can create a separate sports program for the adaptive
sports. But I’m telling you right now, it might just be easier to create the
adaptive sports program right off the bat.
Well there we go. What did you think? Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts!
Until Next Time
CGoerlich <3
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