Accessible exercise

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 24th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: overcoming challenges.

The World Health Organization estimates there are at least 400-million people in the world living with severe physical disabilities—making some of the most basic daily activities difficult. Many have never enjoyed some of the most common leisure activities like riding a bike or playing team sports.

BROWN: WORLD correspondent Amy Lewis lives in Australia with her family. She recently spent an afternoon with a group of volunteers there who are working to bring sports and exercise to those limited by disability.

AUDIO: [SOCCER SOUND]

AMY LEWIS, REPORTER: The basketball court at Barwon Valley Activity Centre has been converted into an indoor soccer field. A goal sits on the floor at one end of the court. Folding chairs for spectators line a short wall topped with a mesh curtain. This isn’t your typical indoor soccer game. The blow-up soccer ball is three times bigger than a usual soccer ball. And all the soccer players are in wheelchairs. Across the gym an inflatable archery range provides a constant hum.

CAROLINE MATHIESON: You have to wheel your arms forwards and then pass the ball to your teammate and try to get it down to the goal…

Caroline Mathieson is one of about two dozen people attending a sports day for people with disabilities. She doesn’t usually use a wheelchair. She can walk and run. So can many of the people playing wheelchair soccer.

AUDIO: [INSTRUCTIONS FOR OPERATING A WHEELCHAIR]

So why are they all in wheelchairs? The athletes here today all live with mental or physical challenges. This game provides an opportunity to excel for the ones who are always in a wheelchair. The usually mobile ones still have to figure out how to make the chair go.

AUDIO: [SOCCER SOUND]

The sports day organizers from Solve Disability Solutions hope everyone finds an activity they enjoy doing. Catalina Gonzalez is the Zumba instructor:

GONZALEZ: The important part is to be having fun, sharing with other people, and also just moving. Any kind of moving is better than no moving.

A woman with Down syndrome rides a red three-wheeled bike near the soccer court. Her bike is one of a dozen people can try out today.

SHARPE: My favorite thing is definitely the instant happiness or joy that you see from someone…

Whitney Sharpe oversees the bike booth. She is an occupational therapist. Her team of volunteers includes former engineers and bike mechanics. Together they modify bike pedals, wheels, handlebars, brakes—whatever’s necessary to make bike riding a reality for everyone.

SHARPE: Like a lot of people who don’t really think that they can ride, and you make a couple of little adjustments, and by the end their confidence has just risen so much, and by the end they’re just flying around…

The volunteers customize a whole lot more than bicycles to help people succeed.

SHARPE: We did a chin-mounted paintbrush for someone so that she could use her head to paint.

Besides modified bikes and soccer and wheelchair rugby, badminton is popular today. Regular badminton. The plastic birdie moves slow enough that even someone in a wheelchair can get into position in time to return it.

Organizers encourage everyone here, regardless of ability, to try a new activity.

CARER: We’re gonna go dance in a few minutes. Do you want to play doubles? Doubles? Yeah.

Zumba music competes with the whine of the archery range’s air blower. The constant air keeps four balls hovering over cones—until a speeding foam-tipped arrow knocks them off.

Sam Nolan has already taken one turn. The arrows slide through a guide in the bow. It’s easier to operate and easier to hit the colorful balls.

SAM NOLAN: I’ve had a go at archery. Yeah. You have to hit the archery, hit the archery, and then you have to hit the balls off. (Were you successful?) Yes. (How many did you hit?) Six…

Which is an exaggeration. His helper corrects him.

NOLAN: ...Two, two, two.

He’s tried archery before at an amusement park with limited success.

NOLAN: Point arrows like Robin Hood, yeah, boys.

Seventy-two year-old Dennis Richmond also tries archery. Richmond is one of the few here who wasn’t born with his disability.

RICHMOND: I was thrown out of a vehicle chasing a fox.

The resulting blood clot on his spinal cord developed into an abscess and rendered him an incomplete paraplegic at age 17. In spite of his weakened legs and back, Richmond spent five decades raising sheep and classing wool in the sheep sheds. That meant standing for up to 10 hours a day.

RICHMOND: I always used to try to do more than normal people to prove to myself and to them. ‘Cause I would work for other people sometimes, and they probably thought when they saw me come in the gate that this guy’s going to be a liability. But I would finish up doing more than the so-called normal people.

In the last 10 years, Richmond has had more back surgery. His body is wearing out. He spends most of his days in a wheelchair now.

RICHMOND: It is frustrating sometimes. So you can’t just get out of the car, walk to the shop, get what you want. You have to think, will I bother or will I get someone else to do it, you know…

That doesn’t stop him from challenging himself. It’s why he’s here trying archery and other sports.

Caroline Mathieson tells what she likes best so far.

CAROLINE MATHIESON: I like the wheelchair rugby. (Why?) It was hard! Definitely hard on the arms…Yeah, it was a challenge. (What did you like about a challenge?) Learning something new.

Not too much later, she was on the court again, practicing her newfound skill of maneuvering a wheelchair and a giant soccer ball.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Amy Lewis in Geelong, Australia.

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