Complements of the season.

It’s that time of year again, coming up to the end of the year, synonymous with Christmas festivities.  As I’ve said before, it’s difficult, even in multicultural UK, to get away from.  There are many areas where Christianity is in the minority, but where here, still, the festive spirit will be in abundance.

Whatever your stance, the end of the calendar year brings a time for reflection.  It’s a time when professional sports men and women make for warmer climes to continue to train; a luxury the majority of amateur players can ill afford.  And indeed it seems, this week that public transport is rapidly becoming an ill-afforded luxury for wheelchair users, when a ruling was overturned, allowing wheelchair users the priority use of space on buses, which are reserved for accessibility but are more often used by prams and pushchairs.  In years gone by, public transport was not obliged to be accessible to people who use wheelchairs, and if you wanted to take a pushchair aboard, it had to be folded and stored as luggage.  This truly seems like a backward step, to provide accessibility but not enforce its use.

As I read somewhere on social media this week, a child is a life-choice, a disability isn’t.  It serves to further widen the divide for disabled people, particularly when stories still come to light of people with mental illness being locked away from society, abuse in ‘care’ homes, and, topically, the five year old wheelchair users denied access to Santa’s Grotto.

The Christmas season should be one filled with peace and goodwill to all men.  It should be a time to be thankful that we’re all still making the best of every day we have.  Be thankful for opportunities, and another day with another story, and whatever you believe, enjoy the festive season with a toast to family and friends, near and far, present and absent.

Josie Cichockyj – a tribute from Cumbria Wheelchair Sports Club

Today, the world of disability sport is a darker place. Josie Cichockyj died on 3rd December 2014. For her family, and her many, many friends, the world will change forever.
There are numerous news reports today, on various social media sites, and internet magazines, which list Josie’s sporting achievements, from Paralympic Games, to London Marathon, and everything in between, so I won’t be repeating all those here. All the words already written are a worthy tribute.
I met Josie, like many other parents, as a basketball coach, mentoring our special kids. Her gift, to me, particularly, was the enthusiasm she imparted, and her skill of talking to our kids as mini-adults – having expectations for them, where many other professionals we encounter, have few. Her example, from the aforementioned achievements, to her recent aeroplane piloting feats inspire everyone to live life without limits, and I know her enthusiasm for sport gave many disabled people the gift of hope.
I’m republishing here, Josie’s guest blog. She has been a great friend to many wheelchair sports clubs, as coach, mentor, opponent and participant. Hers is a smile we will all miss, and the clubs she was personally involved with will feel the worst pain. From all the players and junior basket-ballers, we offer up a rousing ovation of applause for Josie Cichokyj, and I hope, one day, her family and friends will take comfort from our words and memories.

 

Days that changed our lives – a guest blog, by Josie Cichockyj, first published here on 27/9/13

 

We can all name days that changed our life forever but mine just seems to keep on changing and success always appears to be around the corner.

When I refer to success, I am a three times Paralympian, 5,000m World Record Holder, British Record holder in every distance from 100m to 5,000m, London and Great North Run Winner, European Wheelchair Basketball bronze medallist, GB Wheelchair Basketball Captain, Mavericks Club Coach and business owner

I have had so many of those days that changed my life that I just have to pinch myself sometimes when I look back at all the experiences in my life. I think this inner ability to almost keep re-inventing yourself is what makes it all so fulfilling.

I look back and reflect and think why me? I don’t think there is any specific reason for my achievements. Everything I did just came natural and seemed easy. More importantly, I was enjoying it and having endless fun! I remember at the 1984, Paralympics, Prince Charles ended his Opening Ceremony speech by saying but most of all have fun. Well I have certainly endeavoured to make that a lifestyle.

I don’t come from financial wealth or success. In fact, I am one of 10 children, 6 sisters and 3 brothers. No one in my family was of a sporting pedigree. Nor did they particularly have aspirations to travel the world in pursuit of happiness. We were not materialistic. We had very little but we had each other and enjoyed our time together.

I was always a bit of dreamer and actually believed my dreams would become reality, no matter how many people laughed and ridiculed them. I seemed to see and find a way to do it by accepting it as a great adventure, an exploration that excited me. Sure I struggled sometimes and hit obstacles but these were mere challenges to overcome. Scary but I never doubted that I would not find a solution and if not me, there was definitely someone who would help me. I was never ever scared of asking for help, I loved talking to people!

I think decision-making was pretty easy for me. I was either doing something or I wasn’t, simple as. If I was doing it, you could guarantee it was always 100% to the level of irritation to those around me. That commitment to my decisions was probably the reason I succeeded. To say that I was focussed was an under-statement.

I just seemed to have loads of time to do everything I needed to do. No matter what, I could find time and it was like spinning plates. I never put anything off. I just did it now with utmost urgency like my life depended on it. No time for procrastination, I was on a mission. Billie Jean King, the tennis player used to say, stay in the moment! I was definitely present. I knew what my goal was but I knew the steps and the actions required to achieve them. If I only had time for a couple of hours sleep a day, so be it!

I wasn’t just visualising my goals, I was achieving them and taking action daily, whether it was training, watching videos, books or meetings. I don’t think I doubted my ability. Talk about forgiving yourself for doing it wrong and putting your foot in it. I forgave myself daily because I was only accountable to me. If it was to be it was going to be up to me, no one else.

I had a very positive attitude and didn’t look for excuses but solutions. I had a mentality that demanded hard work to such an extent that if I was relaxing, I was actually annoyed with myself for wasting my day. I think this came from my parents. My mum was Head Girl, at school and my dad was a prisoner of war in Poland, during the Second World who came to England, as a refugee. My mum’s leadership and hard work ethic and dad’s ability to mentally overcome such atrocity gave me strength and gratitude to face life head on.

Sure there were people who wanted me to find problems in everything. They even wanted me to fail. They were always telling me it can’t be done and attempting to create doubt. I had this absolute trust in my ability and those I surrounded myself with in pursuit of excellence. I know as we grow older, trust can change with life experiences and draw backs but I still always keep moving forward and take the knocks and accept that it is part of my learning curve.

I can tell you so many times I have endured an inner terror. However, I have felt scared and excited at the same time. My heart has raced to the point that I thought that I would die! I have always feared public speaking and yet I coached and trained teams in sport and in the work place. If there was one thing that held me back it was this, but when I decided to step outside my comfort zone and become a public speaker everything changed; all of sudden it was easy! I don’t understand, guess it’s the paradigm shift of ‘yes, I’m the speaker’, not the person in the audience saying I could never get on that stage. I just changed the habit and created a new experience.

I just started applying the traits of my other successes. I accepted that some things will always feel embarrassing. I will always fear doing it wrong. By turning it on its head and accepting that everything we do for the first time is difficult, I could find ways of doing it well. This usually came down to practice, repetition and enduring the same activity over and over again without loss of enthusiasm, determination and passion.

The journey of my life is one of great fulfilment. I always say if I die tomorrow that I loved my life. I have endured hardship, faced difficulties, felt scared, been hurt, cried, felt confusion and the greatest of disappointments through failure but yet, I have managed to overcome them and bounce back. I will feel this way again for sure but starting over every day in the pursuit of loving life, helping others and having gratitude for the opportunities life as afforded me, I know that there will be more success around the corner.

I started this blog wanting to talk about days that changed my life but to have those days you need to understand the emotions, the mindset behind those days. Why I had success I don’t know. How I can help you achieve success, I don’t know. I do know that I have two favourite quotes, ‘enthusiasm is like a ripple on water, it grows’ and ‘A ship is safe in harbour but that’s not what ships are for’. All I know is both enthusiasm and the journey into the unknown have served me so well.

Finally, yes I do take myself a bit too seriously sometimes but the ability to laugh at myself and know that a day without laughter is a day wasted is a blessing and helps me enjoy all that is good in life.

 

 

 

Rest in Peace, Josie…

Invictus and other achievements.

The past few weeks have seen many sporting events taking place. The Invictus Games, the brainchild of Prince Harry was spawned to showcase the sporting abilities of injured service men and women. These are ordinary people made extraordinary through the spoils of war. Encounters with essentially political enemies have left these selfless people missing limbs, senses, and for some, a portion of their essential selves. The Invictus Games have given them a purpose to channel their obvious competitiveness.
More locally, some of our players and friends have taken part in competitions home and abroad.
The Sainsbury’s School Games offers annual opportunities for young sports players to compete with others from all over the country. The competition features a variety of sports, and Panther Sam Wilson took up the baton to help represent the North of England in the wheelchair basketball. A hard fought tournament resulted in Silver medals for England North, with England Central taking the gold.
Also, in the sports news, the mens Under 22 GB team took a magnificent Gold in the European Championships in Spain.

Wheelchair sports show the reality of disability to the masses.
Disability, deformity and amputation is obvious during wheelchair sports when prosthetic limbs are detached, and short, or stump limbs are literally laid bare. This is a brave thing to do, and has very much been the focus of the Invictus Games, hosted in London. The facilities used for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were re-used and made the ‘superhumans’ the public focus once again. There’s some debate around whether games for injured service personnel goes some way to glorifying war. I think any of the participants, now suffering physical and mental trauma will disagree with any glory in war. These people are now rebuilding their lives, and therapy of sport as a means to achieve and as an outlet for competitiveness can only be a positive thing. These people, particularly, have fought for freedom, for their country’s independence and identity, and now fight to hold onto themselves and deal with their altered day-to-day lives.

Earlier this week, the Scottish Referendum returned a ‘No’ vote. There will be some Scottish people who are disappointed. There are many who are pleased. As citizens so close to the Scottish Border, the North of England would have been affected by an independent Scotland rather more than many other areas of Britain. As sportsmen and women, all our players are proud to represent both our club, and our regions, and we have players who have represented Scotland as well as England. We are happy we can continue this collaboration with Scottish clubs, as well as English ones in other regions.
We are all people, we are all masters of our own fate, and all our sporting achievements, home and away, should be celebrated equally.

Invictus

by William Ernest Henley 1849–1903

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

National Paralympic Day – a questionable legacy?

30th August 2014 is National Paralympic Day; a day to celebrate disability sport and to reflect on the Paralympic London 2012 legacy.
The question that troubles me is whether the Paralympic legacy is one which actually fosters inequality and prejudice against disabled people.
Paralympians are touted as ‘super-humans’ and the stark facts of disability are easily forgotten when watching these super-athletes breaking records, achieving extraordinary sporting triumphs. All this achievement means that the stark realities of living with a disabled body can be overlooked by the spectators, fostering the aforementioned incorrect prejudices.
Any sports person will tell you that sport and training can hurt. Pushing yourself to achieve makes your body ache.
So when you’re watching the achievements of Hannah Cockcroft, Jonnie Peacock and the like, remember the training and dedication that went into this. But also remember, when these legendary sportsmen and women are not ‘doing their thing’ on track, field, pool etc. they are dealing with everyday life with a body that needs help.
If you live life in a wheelchair, you deal with the practicalities of too-small doorways, non-existent or inadequate access ramps, potholes, disabled toilets used as broom-cupboards or storage space, people with little children using the larger changing room in shops, swimming pools or sports-centres. You are on level with vehicle exhausts, you are much shorter than shop counters, miles lower than the chip-and-pin machine.
Then there’s the fact that your arms are your means of getting around, dragging not only your body, but also the weight of your chair. There’s the potential for pressure sores, damaged joints, being ignored!
Whatever your disability there’s also the prospect of discrimination – deaf people not being able to travel alone, or occupy certain seats on a plane; hotels and restaurants reluctant to admit assistance dogs.
For even the Paralympic superhero, there’s the problems of ‘normal disabilities too.
Catheters and colostomies, medication, stair lifts, hoists, crutches, prosthetics, orthotics, pain clinics, physiotherapists and many other professions, and pieces of equipment become as familiar as the aches, pains, or lack of any sensation at all that are ‘business as usual’ for the ‘abnormal’.
Admiration for the superhumans should encompass the additional day-to-day challenges of every single disabled person, because, in their own personal way, they are all, every single one, a superhuman, and I admire you all.

Up for a little competition?

Summer in the UK is the time for students to receive their examination results. Stressful times for parents, students and teachers alike. This can be the culmination of many years of study. The pressure to achieve, these days, is far greater than ever. Many jobs, which in years gone by would be considered more menial, unskilled, now require unprecedented levels of qualification. For some, this is not because the level of knowledge is required, but more that the employers now expect a certain level of education for all employees.
This can be difficult for GCSE students with little or no clear idea of their future career path.
Equally, for children with ‘special educational needs’ this can bring added pressure. If your strengths do not lie in academia, and you find regurgitation of factual knowledge an insurmountable mountain, your choices can become narrow and limited. However, this is not the end. Whether you find learning easy, or practical tasks more ‘your thing’, every single challenge you face is made more interesting by the competitive spirit.
It’s this competitive spirit that makes sport so popular.
For a wheelchair sports club such as ours, the competitive spirit is much in evidence, but not, as some might imagine, in a ‘disability top trumps’ way.
Disability sport is the most inclusive experience you can have, where an able-body is little or no advantage. For team sports, such as wheelchair basketball, the competitive spirit is what keeps us trying to win.
The latest internet craze is the ‘ice bucket challenge’.  This has started to become a general charity awareness act, where even celebrities are getting in on the act. Victoria Beckam, Kylie Minogue, John Terry, Jeremy Clarkson, and even Alex Salmond are all getting wet, and hopefully making a charitable donation. The competitive spirit here is responsible for a surge in awareness and donations for a little known condition, ALS.
Perhaps we can also spread the word that the competitive spirit in all of us (even me!) can be used for good things. For everyone who received the results they wanted, who can now take it to the next level, for everyone who didn’t quite make the grade, who can use this to improve, a competitive spirit can take you places. Mine insisted I achieve academic grades sufficient to become the vet I wanted to be, despite my severe debilitating allergy which actually prevents this becoming a reality.
For students, and sports players, use your competitive spirit to be the best you can be, whether you have a future plan, or you just go where the flow takes you, let it take you as near to the top as you can.

http://www.upworthy.com/the-last-ice-bucket-challenge-you-need-to-see-and-you-really-should-see-it

 

 

Give us a smile!

The last blog post was a sombre one, following the news of Robin Williams death. It seems to me that discussing disability humour is a fitting way to follow that tribute.
In the age of political correctness, humour can be a touchy subject. There are disabled comedians. Francesca Martinez, a successful stand-up and author, Adam Hills and Alex Brooker, two thirds of The Last Leg line-up, all mention their disabilities within their acts; just as Omid Djalili and Meera Syal will mention race, and Maysoon Zayid covers both options as a Muslim woman with cerebral palsy who also does comedy!
Early reports into Robin Williams death have cited his manic depression as something which manifested itself as a part of his comedy genius. It’s also come to light that he had been diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease. The same disease Michael J Fox and Billy Connelly suffer. Being linked with celebrities may make some medical charitable concerns very happy about the additional exposure, but for Parkinsons Disease charities, a connection with a high profile suicide is less than helpful.
Billy Connolly’s outlook was, ‘On Monday, I got hearing aids, on Tuesday, heartburn medication I’ll have to take forever, on Wednesday, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and Parkinsons….’ His humour and refusal to allow disease to slow him down probably had a much more positive impact for the charity and for other people living with the disease.
There’s much ado in the media about equality, and even though images of disabled people are more widespread than ever, even cropping up, ironically, on the NHS ‘Change for Life’ adverts..

Publicists go to great pains to be inclusive, but avoid being funny. And yet, in films, the opposite seems to apply.
Pierce Brosnan takes to a wheelchair in ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief’ not because he has a major disability, but just to disguise the fact that he is a centaur, half horse, same goes for Grover in the same film, using elbow crutches because he has the legs of a goat. Captain Barbossa, in the Pirates of the Caribbean films has a prosthetic leg with incorporated rum ration. Captain Hook in Peter Pan…. Need I say more??
Mad-eye Moody in the Harry Potter films has a prosthetic leg, and a false ‘magical’ eye. The new Box Office smash, Marvel Heroes Guardians of the Galaxy refers offers humorous references to a prosthetic leg, and a false eye, and no-one seems to be offended.
Although, I’m sure there will be complaints. I viewed a recent small YouTube clip of two people using sign language,( click here for the link,) and then I was surprised at the comments that the driver shouldn’t sign whilst driving! Does that mean deaf people never have a conversation on a journey? Something else you can’t do in a car!
I suppose though, if your driver is signing to other people in the vehicle, there’s no chance of a recurrence of the recent news story of a pilot who made a rather bumpy landing when his prosthetic arm detached during the flight – make a mental note to shake hands vigorously with any pilots you meet in future, just to check!
We all have to find ways to see the funny side, like the amputee who celebrates the anniversary of his operation by drinking himself ‘legless’. Attending our sports club can often seem like the ‘spares department’ with all the false limbs, and parts of wheelchairs lying around,
I’m crediting the good old World-Wide-Web for this bad disability joke;
“Three disabled guys,(a blind man, an amputee, and a guy in a wheelchair) are flying back with the USA team from the Paralympic Games in the Middle East, when their plane crashes in the Sahara Desert. The three disabled guys are the only survivors and are now stranded , so they wait for someone to come and rescue them. Nobody comes. They start to get thirsty so they decide to seek out water. The amputee leads the way, with the blind man pushing the guy in the wheelchair, and eventually they find an oasis. The amputee leader goes into the water first, cools himself down, drinks a load of water, walks out the other side, and lo and behold, he has a new leg! He is really excited and encourages his friends to do the same. The blind man offers to push the guy in the wheelchair, but he is refused because the guy in the wheelchair now wants to be ‘Mr Independent’ and push himself; he insists the blind man goes ahead. So, he goes into the water, cools himself down, drinks a load of water and walks out the other side, and lo and behold, he can see! Now the guy in the wheelchair is getting really excited, starts pushing with all his might, goes into the water, cools himself down, drinks a load of water and wheels out the other side. Lo and behold, New Tyres!’

Sorry folks!!!

A spark extinguished – a sombre post.

August 12th 2014 saw the world waking up to the news of the demise of actor and comedian Robin Williams.

His death, which has been linked to mental illness, has highlighted the potential seriousness of depression. His battle was public, struggle documented and his tributes in the media are using a quote of his; “I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It is not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone.”
In Williams’ death, the world has lost an intelligent and talented actor and funny-man. His family has lost a father, husband, grandfather. Initial reports link this apparent suicide to severe depression, and around the world, no doubt, many people are pausing, closing their eyes and remembering others lost to this terrible disorder. Many succumb to a final end, either through accidental or intentional drug overdose, or by more mechanical means. There will be reports, studies, statistics, none of which will be any help to those left behind, or those still fighting the fight.
I have written about the ‘black dog’ before. I still have no answers, I hold no essential comfort. There will always be times where people like Robin Williams feel so alone in the crowd that all they can see is the final exit.
Unfortunately, physical disability and depression are often found hand in hand. Dealing with living a minority life, for any reason at all, whether you’re blind, deaf, use prosthetic limbs, a wheelchair, are heavily tattooed, homosexual, bisexual, transgender, or are just a traffic warden, can have its trials. Inclusive sport can be a way to level the playing field. Even if you’re able-bodied, the challenge of facing regular wheelchair users on the sports court can be daunting. You may excel at shooting baskets through the ten-foot hoop, whilst you’re standing under it, but what about from a seated position, on wheels? More tricky? Definitely!
Attending a sports club can also raise endorphins, which help to combat depression.
Alongside depression, disability robs a sense of spontaneity. If any trip, excursion or outing needs complex planning, the sense of independence and spontaneity is dramatically reduced. In an inclusive world, this would not be the case. Having to plan carefully your route, so it’s accessible, make sure the hotels can accommodate equipment, even provide accessible bathrooms is time-consuming, should be easy but often isn’t. Catering for basic human needs is taken for granted by the vast majority of the population; those that don’t realise the upstairs dining room, or the tiny bathroom with no separate shower, no grab rails, is a certain deal breaker and show stopper for some.
All these things, along with anxiety and depressive disorders are insufficiently discussed. They are not ‘mainstream’ enough, and yet, they affect so many people. They are hidden disabilities, taking away the essence of spontaneity, removing even spontaneous joy of thought.
They need to be discussed.
Robin Williams’ death has been the loss of a ‘national treasure’. For every single person who feels the end of their tether approaching, we owe it to ourselves and them to discuss mental health and disability more openly. Only when these things are common-place, and not stigmatised will we ever stand a chance of identifying and helping those who feel alone in the crowd.

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Going for Gold! Lord’s Taverners’ National Junior Wheelchair Basketball Championships.

North West Under 15 and Under 19 Gold Medal Winning Teams

  

25th to 27th July 2014 has been an amazing weekend for Junior League Wheelchair Basketball.

Stoke Manderville Stadium in Aylesbury hosted the Lord’s Taverners’ Junior Championships, in the usual superb style.

There are photos of the event on our Facebook page, website and hopefully you’ll be able to read about us in the local press. Because of all this, I want to present some different views. Before I do, though, I want to thank everyone who was involved in the event. All the players, coaches, team managers, referees, table officials, caterers, dorm supervisors, parents, carers and everyone else involved, should be very proud to be a part of this event. I’d love to list everyone here, but it wouldn’t make for a very interesting read…. Sorry!
So, this year, 10 regions entered teams to the Under 15 year olds tournament, and 12 regions entered the Under 19s.

Can you imagine a larger gathering of kids with disabilities?

Stoke Manderville Stadium, with it’s Paralympic history, is the obvious choice of accessible venue for this. Throughout the weekend, the edges of the two courts became a dumping ground of daytime wheelchairs, kit bags, orthotic devices and discarded prosthetic limbs.   One of the most difficult things for kids to deal with is the issue of body confidence. Obviously, given the regularity of media articles on this subject, it is pertinent to all ages, but adolescents have the hardest time. The prevalence of eating disorders is a serious worry for all parents and so feeling your teenager has some degree of body confidence has to be reassuring.   I’ve spent time in schools. Teenage girls wear more make-up than film stars. They spend ages straightening their hair, getting spray tans, acrylic fingernails, false eyelashes, ‘Sharpie-marker’ eyebrows and tottering around on platform heels in a cloud of perfume; boys sprouting beards , dealing with acne and trying to handle hair-gel. And despite all this, these kids are still insecure.

Any sporting tournament is a big event, all the participants give time and energy to prepare and to participate. All the children proudly representing their regions worked exceptionally hard to get into their teams. For children with disabilities, particularly if these are physical and obvious, life can be full of added challenge. People who should know better will stare, and for already self-conscious teens, this is wearing. It is equally irksome and particularly irritating for the parents of these teens too. A friend of mine once told me of someone, – a stranger- berating her for scolding her son, who was misbehaving, as young kids tend to do. This stranger felt that my friend shouldn’t be reprimanding her child because he uses a powered wheelchair, and therefore, in the eyes of this outsider, could not possibly be misbehaving. Reality check…. having a medical problem, a body which looks different, doesn’t work the same way as others, or has parts missing, does not mean an inability for mischief. For any other parent, not correcting an erring child would be considered neglectful. You wouldn’t allow your toddler to climb the furniture or on the windowsills, so why is it okay if your toddler has shortened, deformed limbs? Inclusion for disabled people should cover all aspects of life. Parents of disabled children ignore the pitying looks, smile saccharin-sweetly at the words of encouragement, and the ‘I don’t know how you cope…’ because it doesn’t help.  There is no easy way to explain. You cope because you cope! It’s not like there’s a choice.   Attending an event like the Lord’s Taverners’ Junior Championships puts parents together. There’s no need to discuss diagnoses, nobody is going to want details of your child’s condition, or ask how you cope. No-one is going to look askance at you if you tell your one-legged teenager not to hop down the staircase. We all know that you can’t tell teens what to do anyway, and for all the kids facing life with differences, we know they are finding their own ways to do things.
When you have a baby, you want for them to sit up, to crawl, to walk. Developmental milestones are ticked off by the medical professionals. But if your baby skips one, doesn’t crawl, or is a bum-shuffler, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. If your child gets around on their hands, swinging a leg-less torso between them, how can that be wrong? They’re still independently moving! And all this is why disability sports tournaments and clubs are so important. In a sports hall of teenagers, I’ve never seen so much effortless body confidence. Prosthetic limbs were shown off in shorts or discarded when their owners took to sports-wheelchairs. The problem of excess trouser-leg fabric was solved by simply tying a large knot, or tucking them under. A high-five at a basket scored could be a left-handed affair if one of the participants has a hand deficiency, or reduced arm control. There was even a very well-behaved assistance dog in attendance, although he wasn’t allowed on court!

In the 33 degree heat of the hottest weekend in a long time, all these kids gave their all to the game they all obviously loved. Many went home disappointed at not winning. All of them went home with certificates for participating and the admiration of everyone there, and quite a few probably went home sporting new bruises due to contact with the floor following sporting altercations, and enthusiastic game play.   I hope all the players also went home more content with who they are.
Disability sports groups are nurturing families. All parents are proud of their kids, and none more-so than parents of potential future sporting heroes.
Despite the success of the Paralympic Games, disability sports still lack publicity and media coverage. I say if you want to see radiating joy, and achievement in bucket-loads, no matter where you are in the world, you’ll search out groups like ours. Being proud of who you are and what you can achieve is the biggest boost to body confidence you can ever get, so support your local clubs, because for the North West Regional Under 15 and Under 19 teams, winning the Gold, and achieving happiness, is infectious!

Cumbria Wheelchair Sports Club is proud to be associated with members of the Gold Winning Teams.

Here’s the Role of Honor!

North West U19 Team

Head Coach: Josie Cichockyj
Assistant Coach: Nick Howard
Team Manager: Colin Pattinson

Pat Deacon (Manchester Mavericks)

Holly McGrady (Carlisle Panthers)

Nathan Maguire (Carlisle Panthers)

Adam McGrath (Vikings)

Nat Pattinson (Carlisle Panthers)

Ben Taylor (Carlisle Panthers)

Gregg Warburton (Oldham Owls)

Lucas Warburton (Wigan Warthogs)

Samantha Wilson (Carlisle Panthers)

Jenny Wilson (Manchester Mavericks)

 

North West U15 Team

Head Coach: Paula Johnson
Assistant Coach: Julian Mattinson
Team Manager: Emma Tomkinson

Finley Tonner (Manchester Mavericks)

Callum Doherty (Vikings)

Jack Tate (Vikings)

Lewis Craddock (Vikings)

Tyler Baines (Carlisle Panthers)

Lauryn Beattie (Carlisle Panthers)

Louis Telford (Wigan Warthogs)

Callum Fairweather (Vikings)

Ethan Pattinson (Carlisle Panthers)

Joel Pattinson (Carlisle Panthers)

Not forgetting, Carlisle Panthers players Dylan Cummings and Carrie Cannon who represented Scotland.

All the players names can be found using the following links.

Under 15s

Under 19s

Choose Support! Your Club Needs You!

The World is older than anyone on it.  It will continue to turn as a ball of rock in the sky long after we are all gone. Our lives make only the slightest of scars upon it, although, collectively as humans, we can make quite an impression. Is there anyone who hasn’t heard the urban myth of the visibility of the Great Wall of China from space?

As human beings, we are all given the gift of personal choice. Of course, if you are a disabled or sick person, others may consider your choices to be limited.  And certainly this may be the case, but possibly another way to look at this would be to believe your choices are not limited, but different. Unless you have strong religious conviction to the contrary, the consensus is that we have one life, differing in span for everyone. During that one life, your choices are what define how it is filled. This means that there’s good news! Your one life can be filled with experiences enough to serve many little lives. Making a choice to eat salad for lunch does not mean you always have to have salad for lunch. Making a choice to be a doctor does not mean you cannot have an alternative career as a baker.  Talent show winners are generally employed (or unemployed!) in a different field before they achieve the top of the chart.   We no longer have to plant roots and stay in one place. The world has shrunk and now nowhere is very far away from anywhere else, except inside our heads.

Nurturing children means allowing them to believe in themselves. Nurturing our disabled sports players is the same.
The chance to nominate us for the National Diversity Awards is shortly to come to an end. We would like this chance to be considered, as an organisation that promotes opportunity for disabled people. Not so long ago, anyone with a disability or disfigurement was encourage to hide away, or else, they achieved minor celebrity status as circus freaks. Dwarves were figures of fun, or characters from fairy tales. The bearded lady, the tattooed man, all spectacles that people paid to see at fairs. Disability is also quite famous in literature. Shakespeare’s Richard III, with a pronounced hump-back; similarly Quasimodo; The Elephant Man; The Beast from Beauty and the Beast; Snow White’s seven dwarves; Rumpelstiltskin, and even Willy Wonka’s Uumpaloompas. These are all characters defined by their conditions, but thanks to people today like Katie Piper, Simon Weston, Jonnie Peacock, Ellie Simmonds, disability is no longer a thing to hide, an opportunity stealer. Historically, there have always been characters who didn’t let impairments slow them down. Beethoven composed using his ‘mind’s ear’ as it his thought he was deaf. King George V conquered a stammer to deliver public speeches. Winston Churchill used his speech impediment as a trademark. Fictional detectives Ironside and Columbo were not defined by their disabilities, rather used them for definition. Of course, such is human nature that the majority want to ‘fit in’ – there wouldn’t be such a thriving fashion industry if this wasn’t the case. Minority groups, Emo, Goth, Vintage, are small confident segments of society. If you are at school, (firstly, thanks for thinking outside the box sufficiently to read this blog; secondly, stick with it… there’s a point, honestly!), you can probably define the groups around you and you probably know to which one you belong. Just like the Pink Ladies, and the T-Birds from Grease, there are still the groups of popular kids, the geeks, the outcasts, the sporty ones, and that’s fine, it’s the way of humanity. The film adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s ‘I, Robot’ suggested that even stored robots will band together rather than stand in isolation.

We want our sports club to be somewhere everyone can stand out rather than stand in isolation. We all have one life, we can choose. At the end of our time here, when we all stand, truly alone, on the edge between what is here and what is next, all the other people who have watched you will not be there to judge you. I, personally, do not want to be dismissed for the things I did not do.

We all need to teach the next generation, the previous one and the current one that it is choice that defines us. We have chances, we have opportunities and we can choose what we do with them.
Use your chance to choose to nominate us for the National Diversity Awards please…
Help us to create more choice and opportunities for sport in Cumbria.

The Fault in our…. tolerance?

Dear Reader, I have something on my mind, I feel I need to get straight.

Those of you who know me will be aware, but many of you are not; I am not, myself, a physically disabled person. On official forms, to the question ‘do you consider yourself disabled?’ I have to check the ‘No’ box. If you have read earlier posts, (massive thanks to you, for a start!), you will already be aware of my premise that everyone has something that disables them, so the fact that I must tick that ‘No’ box seems to be a little hypocritical.

This whole thing implies that in order to appropriately wear the ‘disability’ label, your problem must be obvious to the outside world, and indeed, this whole misconception has spawned an industry of slogan tee-shirts and bumper stickers proclaiming that disability is even less obvious in some cases than bigoted stupidity. Of course, even obvious disability is not accepted. A recent cinema trip with a wheelchair user had both of us feeling the stares when the new ‘End the Awkward’ Scope ad was screened. Sitting near the front of the auditorium and the only chair-user in the house meant that the eyes of the whole of the rest of the entire audience homed in on us. We almost turned to take a bow!

So, is this a) lack of tolerance, b) lack of awareness, c) pity, d) envy, or e) stupidity? Answers on a postcard, as the TV used to request.

I have a childless acquaintance who expresses annoyance on a regular basis, that employers give provision to new parents for additional leave, and are more flexible with mothers on the payroll. Their gripe is that their own life choices are penalising them and that these additional ‘perks should be available to all. Is this also the reason that drivers without blue parking permits still take up the disabled designated parking spaces? Are there really people who envy such things and consider these little assistances to be unfair perks? Do ‘able-bodied’ become annoyed that they are not congratulated on life in general? If you see a person in a wheelchair going about their ordinary daily business, shopping, walking the dog, do you admire the achievement? Does the fact that they are assisted in their life mean that mundane tasks should be celebrated? I’m sure if you asked that person they would have a less than favourable response! And, if you tried to congratulate a ‘normal’ person on their day to day living, how would that conversation go?

Anything you do in your day to day life should be cause for minor celebration, and we ought to be equally celebratory whether our fellow man is walking down the stairs, or taking the stairlift. Watch the latest teen sensation movie, the film adaptation of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, and see if you still disagree with celebrating each and every day… (word of warning… tissues should be issued with the popcorn!)

That’s what’s on my mind… If you would find it patronising to be congratulated on living another day, why is it ok to congratulate a disabled person for attempting to live a ‘normal’ life? I vote for equal opportunities congratulations. Last week, Lesley Ash was a contestant on Celebrity Masterchef. She is now more famous for botched facial cosmetic surgery and her use of a walking stick, following hospitalisation after injury caused by ‘energetic love-making’, than anything she has been involved with in her acting career. Nowhere in the Masterchef programmes was the use of a walking aid mentioned; Lesley was screened using it, but not as a big deal. Earlier this year, Richard Whitehead MBE, took part in the ITV programme. Splash, with Tom Daley. Competitive diving is not a Paralympic sport, but this didn’t stop a man with two prosthetic legs, and the fact that this is the case was not something Richard dwelt on during the programme. Skills win out, and shouldn’t that always be the case? We only get one shot at being the person you are today, and we should all definitely celebrate that.