Disabled Sports Sets a Record

Written by Benett Kessler

Thursday, 29 May 2008

Far from politics and close to the ski slopes, those behind Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra announced a record-breaking season.  Disabled Sports taught 20% more lessons than ever before. We might mention, that Disabled Sports offered ski lessons to Stevie Wonder this season, not to mention scores of others.     Kathy Copeland, Director of DSES, attributed the activity, in part, to the Wounded Warriors Project, which hosted ten severely wounded military men and their families in February.  In fact, Disabled Sports will put on a summer Wounded Warriors Project June 2nd through the 6th.  It's called Operation High Altitude.     The activities will include kayaking, fishing, hand-cycling, mountain biking and rock climbing.  Kathy Copeland said that DSES is "rolling out the red carpet to those who have sustained severe injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan to show them that we appreciate the sacrifices they have made."     Copeland noted that experience shows that early intervention with active sports results in successful rehabilitation and offers wounded warriors the chance to re-build their lives through sport. Comments (2) Subscribe to this comment's feed Russ Monroe said:   What a fantastic program! Kathy Copeland and crew do an incredible job and provide far more than just the sports experience itself. We can’t thank them enough for what they did for our daughter. If the shining light of the goodness of what they do could just be focused on the obscene failures of government to do the same kind of thing. The very people this program can serve, on ski’s, are criminalized by the federal government for needing their wheels to go into the wilderness. The “Americans With Disabilities Act” was made the law of the land in 1988, but the Forest Service will fine, if not jail, anyone who dares to cross the “Wilderness” boundary in a wheel chair. The lnyo Superior Court sent our daughter a ‘summons’ for jury duty that if she failed to appear for, could result in a bench warrant for her arrest, even though she has no access to the courthouse because the “Government” can exempt itself from any law it passes. The constitution prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment”. I guess we just can’t read the fine print that say’s: “except when the bureaucrats feel like it. May 29, 2008 Paul McFarland said:   Too bad Russ had to go and try to make this positive story political and then got his facts wrong to boot! The 1990 American's with Disabilites Act states in section 507 that "Congress reaffirms that nothing in the Wilderness Act is to be construed as prohibiting the use of a wheelchair in a wilderness area by an individual whose disability requires use of a wheelchair." Kudos to DSES for all they do. They show what positive action applied to an issue can accomplish. June 03, 2008 Write comment Show/Hide comment form Name Email Comment Write the displayed characters Add Comment