Emmanuel Apau
ENG 102-01
Professor McMillan
[Type here]
Apau 1
Ways to solve this sensitive topic; Disability
In the world we live in today, we are preached, or taught at a young age we are all equal.
The definition of equal is to be the same. I want to say what if you were growing up and people
treated you different from your peers how would you feel? To jump into this sensitive topic, I
want to talk about disabilities and how that doesn’t make you different from the everyday human
being, specifically the sports side of the spectrum because that less sensitive. I chose to do this
topic because from a young age I grew up with kids/ adults that had disabilities. And I really was
curious to see if I could find any research that had kids in particular to have fun with their
disabilities through sports. Through research there has been things that has been interesting, and I
would like to show how we can also make kids with disabilities feel like they are equal.
Bringing your attention to this topic I would like to start out with the definition of word
disability. According to Merriam Webster dictionary refers to a disability as “a physical, mental,
cognitive, or developmental condition that impairs, interferes with, or limits a person’s ability to
engage in certain tasks or actions or participate in typical daily activities and interactions”. In this
definition it states that your condition would hinder you from participating in activities. Of the
bat, people automatically assume that they are talking about sports. I want to say there are a lot to
sports than doing something that is active. Examples could be you can be a person people could
look up to for them to play better. Another thing could be a coach and I would like to say you
don’t need to play the sport to know how to coach it. There have been quite a few people who
have done this. An example is Doug Blevins, Mr. Blevins had a passion for the game when he
Emmanuel Apau
ENG 102-01
Professor McMillan
[Type here]
Apau 2
saw Green Bay Packers beat the Cowboys in 1967. At a young age he wanted to play pop warner
but due to him being disabled he got on the team but couldn’t play. (I would like to say, and I
would further go into details why couldn’t play because at that young of an age it’s more fun
than competition, so I feel like they really could have done something about that). He states, “I
started learning the game from the coaching perspective and it turned into a passion that
ultimately led to a career.” He later became a kicker’s coach and was nominated for the hall of
fame for the NFL. To wrap this up If one could we all can.
At a young age parents put their kids in sports because like somebody said in class it
helps them in the future. I want to take a twist on that and talk about things we can change about
that. I want to talk about things that we as a society can do to help incorporate kids who are
disabled at a young age to maybe change their childhood and try to make it more of a “positive”
outcome. An example is “Children with disability engage in less physical activity compared to
their typically developing peers…. There are additional therapeutic benefits to participation in
regular activity for children with disability [9]. They often have delayed gross motor
development, less proficiency in balance and coordination and poor cardiovascular fitness
compared to their peers with typical development [10], all of which could potentially be
improved by participation in physical activity” (BMC pediatrics 1). In this little portion of this
article it clearly states that kids with disability also have beneficial need when they do regular
activities, but how can you have a child who wants to play soccer and can’t because he might be
in a wheel chair. So, then his outlook on doing something active really diminishes from the kid
because we don’t have the proper ways to handle things like this yet. To clarify I’m suggesting
having these kids who are non-disabled and kids who are disabled share this time together
because it automatically goes back to my intro in where it would make the kids with disabilities
Emmanuel Apau
ENG 102-01
Professor McMillan
Apau 3
feel like we are equal. Another thing why I feel like they should combine these two realms at this
age is because many parents put their kids in activities because it’s fun and not because they
want their kids to be the next Lebron James, Tom Brady or Cristiano Ronaldo. Parents put their
kids in these activities because they all want to see their kids happy. And like people say
happiness is the key to long life.
In this type of realm talking about disabilities there also comes a responsibility of
educating your readers. And in this paragraph, I will be talking about the word adapted sports. In
the reading The Pediatric athlete with disabilities Donald E. Greydanus say that “it refers to a
sport that is modified or especially designed for an athlete with disability [12,29]. The athlete
may either participate with others who have no disabilities (integrated settings) or only with
