Feature: Wheelchair Athletes on International Exchanges
It is widely recognized that sports and recreation programs provide key opportunities for people with and without disabilities to develop leadership skills, confidence and fitness. Sport, play and exercise are vital for optimal growth and learning, and serve as a vehicle for increased self-esteem and independence. For many people with disabilities, sports programs also serve as entry points into international travel and exposure to career possibilities in international fields.
There are a variety of opportunities for individuals with disabilities interested in sports exchanges to participate as athletes, volunteers or interns abroad. Like volunteering abroad, sports exchanges also bestow myriad benefits on local communities around the world.
“Sports, inherently, turn stereotypes on their head and provide captivating, exciting images of the power and energy that are within both our bodies and minds. While decreasing stigma, sports also improve both the physical health and mental health of adults and children with disabilities,” says Cheri Blauwet. A competitive wheelchair athlete and recent graduate of Stanford University School of Medicine, Blauwet has traveled the world to compete and to share a passion for sports with children and adults with disabilities in developing countries.
“Initially, sports was my way to see the world. I grew up in a very rural community in the Midwest, and although I am very proud of my upbringing and my roots, I always desired to broaden my world view and explore. As I started to travel to compete, I was amazed at the diversity of both my peers and in the geography and cultures around the world.” Blauwet began wheelchair racing as a high school student and since the year 2000 has competed and medaled in the Paralympic games, and achieved success in the Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City marathons. An intrepid traveler, Blauwet has ventured to countries as diverse as Australia, China, Korea, Lebanon, Tahiti, and others, and studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as an undergraduate at the University of Arizona.
With this background, Blauwet became involved in the intersection of sports and international development. Under the auspices of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), she traveled to Germany and several countries in Africa.
“In Ethiopia and Angola I was working with an international non-governmental organization, Veterans International, to promote amputee soccer programs in post-conflict nations. We were in each country for about one week and did some coaching clinics in addition to a great deal of media and outreach work. In Malawi I was able to work with a local Disabled Peoples’ Organization to give a few lectures on the power of sport and physical activity in a developing country setting.”
When Blauwet spent two months working with the Kampala Kids League and Adapted Physical Activity International Development (APAID) in Uganda, she worked to establish a league for children with disabilities within the mainstream programs of the Kampala Kids League. “While working with APAID in Kampala, I was able to see first-hand the almost instantaneous conversion of several children from being shy and withdrawn to emerging as active, independent, and empowered young people. It was simply amazing to watch this unfold in front of my eyes. One day, one of the program participants pushed up to me in his wheelchair, tapped me on the arm, and when I turned my attention to him, flexed his muscles and said, ‘I believe I am strong.’ Moments like this occurred almost daily, leaving me with an intense sense of fulfillment and a huge smile on my face.”
Like Blauwet, Carlee Hoffman discovered a love of international travel as a competitive wheelchair athlete. “Since I was fifteen years old I have been competing internationally at various tournaments. I have traveled all over the world and had amazing opportunities.”
A two-time member of the U.S. Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team and a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Hoffman learned about an internship opportunity in Jerusalem, Israel, with Mercy Corps, an international development organization based in Portland, Oregon, from her coach at UIUC. “When my coach was contacted from Mercy Corps about their Sports for Life, he knew that it would interest me and gave me the opportunity to be a part of it.” The primary goals were to increase coaches’ knowledge of wheelchair basketball and allow for an exchange between West Bank coaches and the University of Illinois.
Although she had traveled extensively as an athlete, it was Hoffman’s internship that sparked an interest in pursuing an international development career. “My internship in Jerusalem is the first time I have had the opportunity to stay overseas for more than a month and live in a culture instead of being a tourist or an athlete. Sport opened the doors for my love of travel and competition, but my internship showed me how much I enjoy working and living overseas."
Program Manager of Mercy Corps’ Community Action Program in Iraq, Tiana Tozer is living proof that sports can provide valuable leadership and communication skills. A two-time Paralympian, Tozer studied romance languages and political science at the University of Illinois and the University of Oregon, and discovered a passion for working abroad during a trip to Bosnia. There, Tozer taught wheelchair basketball to veterans of the war and helped raise awareness about land mines. In Iraq, Tozer helps train and direct community education teams made up of Iraqis with disabilities. In turn, each team makes presentations to school children, teachers, local and national government representatives and community leaders about disability inclusion. Read more about Tiana Tozer in the November 2008 issue of New Mobility Magazine.
For Muffy Davis, competitive wheelchair sports also opened doors to international involvement. A former member of the United States Disabled Ski Team, Davis embarked on a year-long trek around the world to learn about issues facing people with disabilities and to volunteer with organizations such as Right To Play in Ghana. Davis was especially active in contributing to the 2004 Asia Tsunami relief effort and in assessing the needs of people with disabilities in the countries most affected by the disaster.
Growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jean Driscoll, who has spina bifida, never dreamed that she would travel internationally. According to Driscoll’s website, she "began using a wheelchair at the age of 15 and after learning about wheelchair sports from a high school friend, she started pursuing athletic opportunities with fervor.” This led to her success in becoming a leading [wheelchair racing] competitor on the world-scene. Three months after announcing her retirement from racing, Driscoll was contacted by Wheels for the World to conduct a wheelchair track camp for people with disabilities in Ghana, West Africa.
“On the first day of the camp, there were people who limped into the stadium, walked in on crutches, or used a wheelchair they received from Joni and Friends, Inc. (Of the 32 people who showed up, maybe six had wheelchairs.) For many of them, the track camp we held was the first time they were ever in a wheelchair and it was their only opportunity to be up off the ground. In Ghana, families often reject people with disabilities and either hide them in a room for the rest of their lives or send them to the street. The opportunity to engage in sport, however, is changing these attitudes,” says Driscoll.
She returned to Ghana a year later and teamed up with Rotary International to raise funds to bring eight wheelchair athletes and two coaches to train in the United States for ten days. “Prior to 2004, Ghana had never sent anyone to the Paralympic Games. Two of the athletes who came to the United States, however, became the first Ghanaians to represent their country in the Paralympics.” Today the International Disability Sport Outreach Program at the University of Illinois continues to support social change and sports participation in countries where opportunities for persons with disabilities have not previously existed.
Although competition opens doors to international involvement for many professional athletes with disabilities, there are a host of international opportunities available to amateur athletes as well. Matthew Clark participated in a variety of wheelchair sports as a youth and young adult. While browsing an issue of Sports ‘N Spokes magazine, he came across an article about The Mobility Project (now known as Hope Haven International Ministries/Mobility NW). “That was all it took. I went to the website and contacted them. They gave me information about different programs in various countries, but Afghanistan caught my interest the most,” says Clark.
During the three weeks he spent in Afghanistan, Clark engaged local children and adults with disabilities in wheelchair basketball and assisted other volunteers with wheelchair distribution. “Flexibility is a necessity for anyone with a disability, so being able to pull not just from my own unique way of doing things but also from the countless individualized modifications I’ve seen over the years qualified me as a valuable resource to [The Mobility Project] team.” Clark’s volunteer experience with The Mobility Project was his first international experience, but he says, “I want to see the whole world. I formed friendships with the people I met there and would like to go back and build on that.”
Ben Johnson, a professor of Sport Science and Associate Dean for Community Partnerships and Global Initiatives at Kennesaw State University, has been at the forefront of providing leadership and sports opportunities to youth and adults with disabilities throughout North Africa and the Middle East. “Over a five-year period, my colleague, Carol Mushett-Johnson, Executive Director of BlazeSports America, and I conducted several exchange programs under the International Sport Programming Initiative sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. Traveling to numerous countries, a team of experts including high school and college athletes presented train-the-trainer workshops to emerging disability sport leaders,” explains Johnson.
At the workshops, local coaches, educators, game organizers and others were introduced to topics including sport management, sport science, sport medicine, coaching, classification, women/girls in sport, and others. Following each 5-day workshop, local youth with disabilities were invited to participate in a disability sport festival to give workshop attendees an opportunity to apply their new skills.
“Our first sports festival was conducted in Cairo, Egypt, on a Saturday and I will never forget the hundreds of girls and young women who exited the buses arriving at the Cairo Sports Hall to participate in sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, table tennis, goal ball and several other adaptive activities,” reflects Johnson. “The smiles, laughter and photos were plentiful that day as new friendships were made and many young women participated in sports and recreation activities for the first time in their lives. None of us wanted to see the day come to an end. We always look forward to the festivals because we know first-hand how enriching the experience is for young people with disabilities. We always leave hoping that the adult leaders we train remain as energized as the youth participants – thereby increasing the likelihood that a meaningful sport program will be developed in the host country.”
As part of the project, many young people with disabilities and emerging disability sport leaders also visited Atlanta, Georgia, to attend youth training camps. At the camps, youth from North Africa and the Middle East had an opportunity to increase their awareness of disability sports while sharing their cultures with youth and adults from the United States. One young person selected to attend the BlazeSports program was Egyptian student Ahmed Sarhan, who has cerebral palsy that affects his right hand and leg movement. Sarhan decided to go on an exchange program to the United States to increase his self-confidence, meet new people and experience a new culture.
“Indeed, he became more independent and confident of himself as the exchange experience progressed and his ability to communicate in English improved significantly during his stay,” observed Johnson. Sarhan shared that the most rewarding part of his experience was playing alongside other young people with diverse and sometimes significant disabilities and gaining a true and lasting understanding of team work.
Whether you are a serious athlete or simply want to share a love of sports with youth and adults abroad, an international exchange opportunity awaits athletes with disabilities who want to take part. Visit the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange’s (NCDE) Sports and Outdoor Adventure International Exchanges tipsheet to read more about the involvement of people with disabilities in disability sport programs, recreational exchanges, and development projects worldwide, and to view a short video featuring athletes with disabilities who turned a passion for sports into a life-changing experience abroad.
