Another Dispatch from the Bizarro World of Disability

The wife and I are not sporty people. Yes, I was a high school athlete and yes, I would love to run a marathon some day but we do not follow sports and we do not play sports.

So how is it that we find ourselves having sushi with Para-Olympians Anthony Lara and Kaitlen Verfuerth the week we are checking out a sports camp that we may be putting Annie in next year?

This, again, is one of the paradoxes of the disabled community; just about every program we have come across for wheelchair-bound children is one that pushes the boundaries of what people think is possible - and that usually involves sports. There are no knitting circles in the disabled community.

The camp is run by San Diego Adaptive Sports. Take a look at the list of activities in a 5 day camp:

- Cycling
- Basketball
- Kayaking
- Sailing
- Snorkeling
- Scuba Diving
- Lacrosse
- Tennis
- Rugby
- Archery

And those are just the ones we know of.

And while we are on the subject, Annie is scheduled for her first surf lesson on September 10th through an organization called Life Rolls On. If she likes it (and she will) we will probably hook up with another sports program called Wheels to Water which does both surfing and SCUBA diving.

Here's what that might look like:



Again, we are not sporty people. If I had an able-bodied son I would probably not be scoping out sports camps and surfing lessons (unless he became interested on his own and asked). Instead we have been blessed with a "disabled" daughter - and it is her very disability that paradoxically drives us to sports.

We don't want Annie to define her life by the "can't do's" but by the "can do's". We feel that sports and philanthropy (serving at soup kitchens and such) are going to be a big part of Annie's childhood.

Yes, you CAN do it and yes, you DO have something to give.

And so in this Bizarro world of disability, two non-sporty parents find themselves dining with para-Olympians and checking out sports camps for their wheelchair-bound daughter.

Which brings up one last bizarro thought: On Annie's first day of First Grade, when everyone describes what they did that summer, she may be the only kid in the room who has ever been surfing, kayaking, sailing and lord knows what else and that thought rocks my world.

Sometimes it's hard to remember if we are wounded people engulfed in pain or empowered people serving as inspiration. A little of both most days . . .

What a life.