Got disabilities?
By: Mahveen Khalil, Dylan Di Agostino, Zayed Al-Abdulla, Paris Koranis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelchair_basketball
Table of Contents No Leg, Not a Problem By Dylan Di Agostino The power of prosthetic legs are unknown
Respect for All By Mahveen Khalil Everyone deserves to be treated equally
Let Them Play By Paris Koranis Disabilities can’t stop these athletes
Can’t stop them By Zayed Al-Abdulla The unstoppables
No leg, not a problem By: Dylan Di Agostino Markus Rehm is a Paralympic athlete who uses an artificial leg.He lost the lower part of his leg due to an accident when he was a teenager. The type of artificial leg he uses is a curved “Blade” that is made of a strong thin metal called carbon fiber. Now he uses his artificial leg to complete a long jump event. People with disabilities should be able to do the same sports as other people without being discriminated against. Rehm wanted to compete in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016. He wouldn't have been the first athlete to compete in the Olympics using a prosthetic leg. 4 years ago the athlete known as Oscar Pistorius made history being the first person to use a prosthetic leg in the Olympics in the running event. But Rehm was disqualified because he couldn't prove that the prosthetic leg didn’t give him an advantage. Blades do most of the same work as biological legs do. They release energy as the runner pushes off the ground to do the jump. Blades are also like a leg’s muscles, which also stretch out and tighten it. But an important difference is the foot. On a prosthetic blade, the foot does not turn or create its own energy. But a biological foot has fibers that help it push off the ground. Runners with human limbs can also adjust the muscles on their legs and the angle of their feet. But the stiffness and shape of a blade cannot be changed to their benefit. Each one is made for an athlete to run under particular conditions. Sometimes that can be a disadvantage, according to one scientist. The goal of the long jump is to jump the farthest over and in a sand pit. To do this, the jumpers need a running start. At the takeoff point, the jumper needs to push off of one leg to get as high in the air as possible. The faster the run-up, the farther the jumper will jump. But Grabowski found that Rehm uses a different approach as a result of his prosthesis. The blade limits his top sprinting speed, which is a disadvantage. But it enables a better takeoff, which is an advantage. In the end, Grabowski could not decide if Rehm’s prosthetic gave him an advantage, however, her work is far from over. In March, she published a study about athletes who use prostheses. She continues to learn in addition as she gathers more Information. Grabowski hopes her work will help scientists design better prostheses. Do fake legs give athletes any advantages? That question may or may not be answered. Careful lab testing is crucial, but it will never duplicate the information that is on the track. Disabled persons take up most of the population and not many people care about them. Sure, it's cruel to say but not many people give disabled people a chance when it comes to sports. This should change as a result of disabled persons are able to do the same sports as other people. You should not judge disabled people. And you should always feel as if they are the same as you.
Respect for All Mahveen Khalil “There is no greater disability in society than the inability to see a person as more.” This is something that Robert M. Hensel said. This man was born with Spina Bifida, which is a spinal defect. Even still, he did something “more” by setting a Guinness World Record for the longest non-stop wheelie in a wheelchair. Robert is trying to say that we should not underestimate people based on their disabilities or what they lack. We should be open to them as well as bearing in mind that they can accomplish anything. We need to be able to treat other individuals just as we would treat anyone else, no matter how different they are in comparison to us. Disadvantages can’t stop anyone Take Alan Brint, who is a blind high school swimmer. Nonetheless, he doesn’t let his lack of vision stop him from pursuing his dream. Newsela says that “(...) the Illinois teen always has a clear vision of how he wants others to view him - no differently than anyone else.” He doesn’t want to be looked upon as anything different than anyone else simply based on the fact that he is a blind swimmer. He doesn’t want people to underestimate him due to his disability. Alan is blind, but it does not imply that he can’t be a skilled swimmer, which leads back to the point that people should not judge or underestimate people who have less than themselves. No matter the obstacle one faces, there is always a way. Learn to accept Jean Kroll (owner of Sugar & Spice Extraordinary Sweet Treats) offered jobs to autistic men at her bakery, but she was a little hesitant at first, as she did not know if they would be able to perform well at the job. However, once she hired them, they proved themselves to be quite efficient workers. She was extremely pleased that she was able to look past their disabilities. According to Newsela, “By the end of six weeks, the men showed that they could work about 80 percent as quickly than a typical bakery worker.” We all need to be able to accept other individuals as they are, as that was the way they were made. Include and involve One day, Bo Paske, a sixth grader with autism, was eating lunch alone. That day, a famous football player, Travis Rudolph, happened to be at Bo’s school. When he saw Bo alone, he came to his table. Pretty soon they had a conversation started. Travis sat to eat with Bo, accepting Bo for who he was. That is something we should all be able to apply in daily life acceptance of people who are different from us. A lot of people have disabilities. Nevertheless, we should treat them just as we would treat anyone else. We need to look at them for who they truly are by putting our differences aside.
We should never underestimate people just by looking at if they’re disabled or not, as disabled people can undertake any task just as well as anyone else. People should treat disabled people just as they would treat anyone else, as it is vital that we are more open to others. We must take action now by accepting people as they are. Therefore, if you know any disabled people, include them, be their friend, be there for them. Consequently, they will feel included and important. It will also help you view someone in a different way. We all must pitch in, include all people, in order to turn the world into a place where we can all be who we are without being judged or underestimated.
Let Them Play By: Paris Koranis
“If I fail, I try again, and again, and again. If YOU fail, are you going to try again? The human spirit can handle much worse than we realize. It matters HOW you are going to FINISH. Are you going to finish strong?” Disabled athletes should be able to do sports without being discriminated.
If someone is disabled they should still be able to do sports. According to Newsela, Markus Rehm is a disabled athlete who lost his right leg when he was a teenager now he uses a artificial leg which is made of carbon fiber. Markus Rehm wanted to compete for the long jump in the 2016 Rio Olympics but he got disqualified in July. Rehm got disqualified because he couldn’t prove that his artificial leg didn’t give him a advantage to jump further. In newsela it also said that Oscar Pistorius was the first athlete to use artificial legs in the Olympics, Oscar Pistorius came first in his sprint and he didn’t get disqualified because of his legs. This doesn’t seem fair to me because all disabled athletes work as hard as any other athlete and maybe even harder. Why should Markus Rehm get disqualified and Oscar Pistorius not get disqualified?
Even if you are disabled you can still surprise people. For example, Newsela has a article about a teen who beat a high school champion in wrestling. Hasaan Hawthorne was a teenager who was born with no tibias. Tibias is the part that allow humans to stand. Hasaan lost his legs when he was 4 months old. He started using prosthetic legs when he was 14 months old. Hasaan learned to walk the hard way, when he fell down his parents didn’t pick him up they let him stand up by himself. He first started to wrestle his babysitter, Duke Firson. When Hawthorne was 5 he convinced his parents to play baseball. When Hawthorne grew up he decided to wrestle for serious in sixth grade. "I said, 'Why can't I do it?'" Hawthorne told AL.com. "It just looked cool to me." When Hawthorne wrestled he didn’t wear his prosthetics he called his amputated legs his “nubs.” After Hawthorne won all 37 of his matches he was the state champion of Alabama. Hawthorne was a teenager and he beat a Alabama high schooler in a wrestling match and he was undefeated. This surprised me because Hawthorne had no legs yet he still won the state championship and beat a high schooler who was also a champion that would be very surprising and amazing.
Let disabled children have chances if they find them. Jake Olson is completely blind. Jake loves football. Jake turned blind when he was 12. He lost his left eye when he was a baby and to save his life the doctors had to remove his right eye. Olson dreams to play with the Trojans, the Trojans are one of his favorite teams. The Trojans are are the football team of the University of Southern California (USC). Olson spent a lot of his time seeing watching the Trojans play. He never stopped wanting to play. Olson is on his last year at Orange Lutheran High School. Olson sat and watched the high school football games but he never stopped wanting to play. Olson thought that he could become a long snapper. A long snapper is when he passes the ball backward to a player behind him at the start of a play. The player who catches the ball then holds it, and another player kicks it forward. If he kicks it between the goal posts he scores a field goal. His mom didn’t like this idea. In late 2012 Olson went to coach Chuck Petersen the Orange Lutheran High School football coach and asked if he could join the football team.“I didn’t want to kill the kid’s spirit, so I just said ‘Oh, OK’… and thought I’ll probably never hear about this again,’” Petersen said. In the spring Olson went back to coach Peterson and asked for a chance to play. Coach Petersen decided to give him a try but he would have to earn his spot. Olson tried his snaps over and over again, at first Olson was struggling but after a while his snaps improved a lot. So he made the team. The teammates of Olson guide him onto the field and to his position but other than that he is a normal player. “We didn’t see him as a blind person," kicker Jerry Fitschen said. "We saw him as a football player.” Olson had an unforgettable experience last season. His team was playing Servite High they were behind by a lot but they managed to pull it back with three points difference. The score was 22-25. There were only a few minutes left and Olson went for the snap. “Everything kind of got quieter,” he said. He remembered thinking, “Well this is pretty cool.” The snap was perfect and so was the kick. Orange Lutheran tied the score 25-25. In fall Olson entered USC as a student. Olson didn’t get picked for the football team yet but he might get called out to go play with them. Steve Sarkisian is the USC’s football coach. He wouldn’t be surprised if Olson played for the Trojans one day. “Someday, he’s going to snap in a game for us,” Sarkisian said. “When? I don’t know — but it will happen." He added, “When that day comes, it will be awesome.” As you can see Olson had a chance to play his favorite sport even if he was disabled. He might have also played for one of his favorite football teams the Trojans. Olson had a chance to play football and he took it.
I have three reasons that are including disabled athletes and the chances they took also being discriminated and surprising people. I bet you in all three pieces of evidence the athletes got discriminated just it didn’t say anything about it. If you have a chance to help disabled athletes not get discriminated then you must take that chance just imagine if it was you disabled and no one came and help you how would you feel? Go help disabled athletes not get discriminated.
Can’t Stop Them By Zayed Al-Abdulla
Have you ever thought that disabled people can’t do anything that a normal person can do Because they’re disabled? I have thought that from time to time, But what changed my thinking was that I learned about the disabled people that have done the impossible, People like Helen Keller, Hasaan Hawthorne or Michelle. These people have done the impossible by working hard enough. Disabled people should be judged by who they are and their ability to do anything with hard work not being judged by their disabilities One person that has shocked the world is Helen Keller, she is probably the most famous of my examples. Helen Keller was born on June 27th 1880. When she was born she was healthy and nothing was wrong, But when she was a year and 6 months old she lost the ability to hear and see. This disease is unknown. Her family lost hope on her. Now that she can’t hear or see, she can’t do anything. But Helen wasn’t going to give up easily and so she hot a teacher and learned how to read a person's lips by touching it. And soon she was at a school for blind people. Throughout the years Keller kept on working hard in school even though she was deaf and blind. Once she graduated she was able to go to college and proved everybody wrong and showed that disabled people can do just as good as a normal person. This is surprising because If I caught that unknown disease that Helen Keller caught then I would’ve gave up. Plus Helen Keller had to put a lot of effort into understanding people. Disabled people will not give up that easily and they will keep on trying even if they have disabilities Hasaan Hawthorne was four months old when he got both legs amputated. So he had to get one of those metal legs they were really hard to walk on but by the age 4 he was already running on them and by the age of 5 he was playing baseball. But because he liked sports a lot, the metal legs got broken a lot because it was walking legs and it was expensive to fix and it took weeks to get it back. And so in 2007 he got the CURVED LEG. This curved leg costed a lot. But still meant he can do sports. And so he kept playing sports. By his sophomore year of highschool he started doing wrestling and he was good at it he got in third place he finished the season with 70 matches and in third place. And in the final year of highschool he won the Alabama state wrestling championship by 40-0. This is surprising because 40-0 is impossible for someone with no legs and yet Hasaan did it by not letting his disabilities getting into his mind. Being creative is a hard enough job for anybody but HongSeok Goh is a blind and opened his first art show. HongSeok Goh is a 45 year old south korean man. In his teenager years HongSeok Goh started losing his sight and in his 20’s he started to be very creative. HongSeok Goh later started getting interested in making anything in the world out of balloons. When Goh was 45 he opened his first art show and it is was an amazing display of balloons sculpted into animal displays some of the balloons were even 20 feet long. This shows that even if he’s blind it
doesn't make his creativity blind or even ruin his creativity and that he always chased his dreams of one day being an artist.
In conclusion, People with disabilities don’t stop someone from fulfilling their abilities of being hardworking, creative and smart people. People with disabilities are very hardworking and passionate people, and school’s, jobs or even family don’t realize that even though their bodies may be disabled, their mind isn’t. People with disabilities should be seen differently, from the disability they show. After reading this, go out and tell the world that disabled people are creative and they have achieved all these achievements. School’s will have to allow disabled children because they are like any normal person when they are born and they will remain a person from the inside throughout their life. Job’s should allow people with disabilities in, because they have the ability (see what I did there?) to change the workplace and be in a position that normal people can be in.
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