I don't know about you, but I happen to think sports played in wheelchairs is unbelievably badass. (If you don't believe me, check out Murderball, the movie about paraplegic rugby). Yesterday, students were given the opportunity to shoot some hoops in front of Northrop while chair-bound in hopes to bring up issues of disability in athletics, as part of October's national Disability Awareness month. The Adapted Sports Club and the Disabled Students Cultural Center provided chairs, a hoop and a basketball to anyone willing to give the game a try without the use of their legs.

“Adapted sports are pretty big at the high school level and students who participate in adapted sports pretty seriously don’t even really consider the U of M," says senior Rachel Garaghty, who is hoping the U of M will begin offering more wheelchair sports to their athletic curriculum. The students who climbed into the chair and tried to shoot the jay recognized the challenges faced by disabled athletes and gained respect for their abilities.

I personally would love to see more adapted sports available here at the U, and I think this was a particularly interesting way to raise this issue. Giving students the opportunity to put themselves in the position of someone in a wheelchair allows them to realize the challenge and may help to advance the visibility of disabled athletes.