Backwards in wheelchair: down the stairs

[shootingstar]

During a fire evacuation drill, this is what a Human Resources Manager did ...in an office building I was in meeting.

He was just 6 ft. ahead of us while the rest of us piled down 4 flights of stairs.

The guy is a a parapelgic (paralyzed from waist down) and was in a light althletic light wheelchair. He went backwards, down all flights. Impressive upper body strength and agility.

I asked him directly how he did it...and he did confirm: Lots of practice.

By the way, he was not overweight. About in his 30's.

Just incredible!! I'm not sure if some people who saw this, understood truly what it really means to have that type of upper body strength when wheelchair-bound.

[alexis_the_tiny]

Its amazing isn't it? I saw a guy do that at a train station. Niftily wheel himself backwards onto a step on the escalator and hang on with both hands. I've just finished a course in adapted physical education and sports for children with special needs. We had to watch these clips of the Paralympics and some other sports. One of the wheelchair sports our prof showed us was Murderball, which is pretty much, rugby on wheels. The guys who played the game totally blew all our minds away. And the Boccia athletes in the Paralympics had some really deadly accurate shots. Its just...amazing.

[tangentgirl]

Shootingstar, you should tell him to make a YouTube video. It could be both inspiring and practically useful to other folks in wheelchairs. Plus, it would just look cool.

I suppose if I were in that situation, I'd want to know I could get out of a burning building's top floors.

[Irulan]

the movie, Murderball, is amazing and very inspirational.

[NbyNW]

There's a very quick moment in Murderball when they show one of the guys doing this very thing, riding down an escalator in an airport when he is traveling alone. They mention elsewhere in the movie that he has more upper body strength and function than his teammates due to the nature of his injury, and that's why he plays his particular position on the team.

[OakLeaf]

this picture has been making the rounds -

[Sylvia]

Given the obvious strength and physical fitness of many disabled athletes, I've often wondered why the Olympics and Paralympics aren't just one olympic event. I believe they are held the same years and roughly the same time (sometimes one after the other) at the same or closeby locations. Why keep them separate?

[alexis_the_tiny]

In my opinion, the Paralympics and Special Olympics are one way for children and adults with special needs to really shine and show the world what they're capable of. In a way, its more than just a sporting event, its advocacy and also a way of providing opportunities for people with special needs that they might otherwise not have. The Special Olympics also has a really awesome program called the Young Athletes Program where they aim to teach kids with special needs under the age of 8 the general skills they need to participate in sports as they get older.

[Sylvia]

Without a doubt having some venue for disabled athletes is definitely better than no venue. And having the Paralympics at the same time and place as the regular olympics helps increase that visibility. But I wonder at what point is it no longer about whether someone is disabled or not and more about what an amazing athlete they are.

[tangentgirl]

Wow, nice picture, Oakleaf!

Given the obvious strength and physical fitness of many disabled athletes, I've often wondered why the Olympics and Paralympics aren't just one olympic event. I believe they are held the same years and roughly the same time (sometimes one after the other) at the same or close by locations. Why keep them separate?

I think they are separate because it would not be a level playing field. In some cases, able-bodied people will always have an advantage. Finding a disabled swimmer who could fairly compete against Michael Phelps seems (and I could be wrong) unlikely, as swimming is such a whole-body sport.

In other cases, it's the opposite - remember the track runner with the artificial legs that made him awesome? And if you have a marathon, someone in a wheelchair will always have the advantage on the downhills.

However, I do think it would be cool and empowering for all of the athletes to compete in friendlies, right around the time of the Olympics and Paralympics.

Heck, I could turn out to be wrong, and maybe in those friendly games be proven so.

[Sylvia]

I guess the way I look at it is we don't have separate Olympics for men and women. It is one Olympic event where men compete against men and women against women. I would have no problem with disabled people competing against other disabled people. I just think it would be really cool to bring in some of these disabled sports into the regular Olympics. It would give the athletes the same visibility, acknowledgement and sense of accomplishment that I think all amazing athletes deserve. I think the visibility could also help the general public see what amazing athletes disabled people can be. To me it seems odd to have it a separate event. Although maybe there are longer term plans to one day merge the two.

[NbyNW]

I guess the way I look at it is we don't have separate Olympics for men and women. It is one Olympic event where men compete against men and women against women. I would have no problem with disabled people competing against other disabled people. I just think it would be really cool to bring in some of these disabled sports into the regular Olympics. It would give the athletes the same visibility, acknowledgement and sense of accomplishment that I think all amazing athletes deserve. I think the visibility could also help the general public see what amazing athletes disabled people can be. To me it seems odd to have it a separate event. Although maybe there are longer term plans to one day merge the two.

I totally agree with this. It would be great to see all the athletes march together in the opening and closing ceremonies, and for the Paralympians to get equal TV coverage.

[Sylvia]

One of the great things about the Olympics, is many of the athletes go on to become roll models for the next generation of athletes. I wonder how many kids have watched the Olympics hoping that they too might become an Olympian. Likewise should paralympic sports become part of the Olympics, the increased visibility would provide healthier role models for disabled children than the images of poster children from ages ago. I guess to me it just feels right.

[NbyNW]

Also, it would go far to send the message that just because you lose the use of a limb (or lose the limb altogether), your life isn't over; you can still live a very active life! I'm not saying the adaptation is easy, but it can be done.

[pll]

Given the obvious strength and physical fitness of many disabled athletes, I've often wondered why the Olympics and Paralympics aren't just one olympic event. I believe they are held the same years and roughly the same time (sometimes one after the other) at the same or closeby locations. Why keep them separate?

I'd assume it is the size and logistics of the event, including the need for an olympic village.