Students showed that physical limitations can't stop someone from being active in Irving Gym Tuesday night.
To celebrate Disability Awareness Month, students with and without disabilities participated in Ball State's Adapted Physical Activity Club wheelchair slalom event. Disabled Students in Action cosponsored the event.
The slalom course was designed by the club and included 360-degree turns, zigzagging and a sprint to the finish line. The fastest completion time was 53 seconds.
The group planned this event two months in advance and got the idea from a disability sport class, Adapted Physical Activity Club coordinator Tammy Burt said.
"There's nothing like experiencing life from someone else's shoes," Adapted Physical Activity President Courtney Jones said. "You get a sense of how it feels to be strapped down into a wheelchair."
Gaining a new perspective was exactly what excited sophomore Simon Moriarty about attending the slalom event.
"I had a blast because it put me in a situation I'm not used to, and it gave me a different perspective of people in wheelchairs," he said.
The club wanted people to learn that "anyone can be physically active," no matter their physical limitations, Burt said. Moriarty said they achieved their goal then.
"I learned people with physical disabilities are just as competitive and like sports just the same," Moriarty said.
Spreading awareness and having fun were also main objectives of the event, Jones said.
"I'm thrilled so many people are here and having fun," Burt said. "It's fun to move and there's so many ways to go about it."
"It was a good way to get people who are unaware of wheelchairs to be exposed to them. And it was good for people in wheelchairs to mingle with those not in them," senior Jakob Renner said.
Disabled Students in Action President Sydney Comer echoed Burt's statements.
"It's been since high school since I had fun in my wheelchair," she said.
Comer, who previously worked for the Daily News as a copy editor, has memories of having fun in her wheelchair, but those memories are from the distant past. In high school, she was popping a wheelie in her chair when she went too far back and flipped over. Ever since that incident, she can't remember having fun in her chair.
The event also included an informative booth about adapted sports other than slalom. Some of those sports include power soccer, wheelchair basketball, goal ball and wheelchair tennis.
To kickoff March's Disability Awareness Month, Disabled Students in Action had a viewing of the documentary "Lives Worth Living." The slalom event served as a transition from the film into reality.
"The [event] was just as good as going to the documentary 'Lives Worth Living,' but on a physical level," Comer said.
The final event for Disability Awareness Month will be a screening of the film "Defining Beauty" on March 28 at 7 p.m. in Pruis Hall.
Students looking for more information about disabilities are encouraged to contact the office of Disabled Student Development at dsd@bsu.edu or 765-285-5293.
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