Experience with People with Disabilities

 Kyle  Jones The Real Olympics Doctor Ludwig Guttman, known as the “Father of the Paralympics” referred to the Paralympics as “the real Olympics”. He said this because he believed that the Paralympics were a better example of the ideals of the Olympics, than the Olympics themselves. The original Olympic games of course took place long ago in Olympia, and were a religious festival. The modern Olympics was founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the International Olympic Committee, with the first modern Olympic games being held in Athens two years later. Pierre de Coubertin created the modern Olympics with the goal of promoting peace, unity, and healthy competition. The International Olympic Committee with these goals in mind made their principle “the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning, but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering, but fighting well.” I agree with Dr.Guttman’s belief that the Paralympics adheres to the Olympics...

  History of the Paralympics Before looking at the readings and videos I had no idea what the prefix “para” in paralympics meant. I hadn’t given the prefix’s meaning any thought, and if I were to guess, I would have said something along the lines of disability. After reviewing the material I learned the prefix means “alongside” so the Paralympics are the “parallel games”. Of course this makes sense, and aligns with what the Paralympics are, and what its goals are.  After learning the meaning of the prefix I was curious about what the Paralympics mission statement was. A quick Google search revealed their mission statement is “to enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence, inspire the world, and promote the Paralympic values.” (IPC). After learning this, I watched the video “History of the Paralympic Games’. I was surprised to learn how the games started. Veterans injured in World War II were just sitting around their hospital, lacking physical activities importa...

  Experience With People With Disabilities Kyle Jones I have had a lot of experience with people with disabilities throughout my life. I grew up around Galloway, not far from the Absecon Field of Dreams. Being an avid baseball player this is somewhere the teams I played on would volunteer at. Volunteering at the Field of Dreams at a younger age helped prepare for the club I would become the President of at Stockton University. The fall semester of my Sophomore year I joined Stockton University's Unified Sports Club. Unified Sports is a Special Olympics program, where Special Olympic athletes play on teams with people without disabilities. I was the only partner in the club that was not a senior, so after one year of participating in the club I was gifted the title and responsibility of being the President.     Because of participating in the Field of Dreams, and Unified Sports I have much more experience with people with disabilities than the average person. All...