Thoughts on us.

"101madfilipinos,

You know that's what appeals to me most about MA is that regardless of what I attain physically in comparison to the next guy I've still succeeded. I've grown as a person and I've gone further than I could have had I decided not to try. There is no "letting the team down" or "holding others back" mentality. It's about what I'm able to accomplish as an individual inside AND out."

much respect to you, mrs owens.
you could teach many able bodied practioners some very valuable lessons, i am sure.
salute.

 

laugh medicine

Once, when I was first given my handicap parking placard, I was embarrased at times to use it tho I may hve been in horrible pain, as I was 39 did not look disabled and usually running ariound in my KF pants, shoes and tshirt as I also teach (ruptured disc into spinal cord and had osteo-arthritis)...... then one day at a mini mall, I was hurting so thought
:what the heck, Im using my placard"

a man stepped in front of me and said VERY loudly to me
"YOU dont look disabled!"

I looked and him and replied "Well THATS funny cuz you dont look a DARN thing like my orthopedic surgeon"!
everyone laughed and I use my placard now when I need to!

KFG

 

Nice response to an assnine idiot ...

 

Couldn't have stated it any better. Sorry Joshua, I do not mean to ignore a vital forum. :Angel:

 

I don't consider myself disabled even though I have a pension and card from the army that says I am. In saying that I do admit to having health issues and struggling to beat them sometimes. I also sometimes find myself taking risks with my health in trying to do new things, but I would rather make a mistake and get over it than not try.

 

one arm

OP,

I am not one that could qualify to be labelled 'disabled' (physically, at least), so my take on this is a bit ignorant.

I also do not post much on threads here (the site, in general) for various reasons, and I probably would not have had I not been a part of an event today.

Now, I do not want to hijack this thread, but the intention of this example is to display how some, if not most, of us feel about DMA. So today was day 2 of national qualifiers for USATaekwondo in Miami, FL. I was on the floor or in the holding area all day, so I was around the players and noticed nothing strange/odd/different. Whilst waiting for one of my kid's match to begin we sat and watched the match before us.

Black belt men (heavy weights, I estimate) were performing well and I was going over, with my players, our critique(s) of their game. Well, 2nd round finishes and 30 second break enacted, and one of the coaches from another school (our opponents, which, btw-we whipped all...gold gold and gold... high five to us) said, "wow, he has good balance."

Me: Yes. (3 second lapse, <in my mind> "wait, why? Did he perform any aerial moves? No. Multiples on one leg? No. Ohhhhhhhhhhh, I see...")

He was an (arm) amputee. Seriously, what the? I saw that he hadn't two arms for hours...and truly, it wasn't until someone pointed out/ suggested/insinuated that he 'must' have a harder time performing, that I stood in uffish thought.

Whoops, match over...my guy in and me in "coaches mind mode." Totally forgot about the incident until this thread title was in the highlights section.

For me, unless you are seriously disabled, I am not phased one bit and do not even give it a second thought.

Wrong? Perhaps. If so, please enlighten.

I, however, didn't think like this until 1992. Why? My Hapkido master was teaching a few of us and I, a high school lad, thought the guy in the wheelchair was no match/incapable of controlling me when I attacked (due to his situation). That thought lasted roughly the time it took me to attack. After that, I taught some SD courses at uni where I had sessions dedicated to/for the "disabled." I got them to fuse into our regular classes...no problems and a, relatively, easy adjustment.

Though this forum does have some serious topics to address, and I'll be the first to put my two pence worth in, but on the other hand...I do not regularly visit this site, let alone this forum.


Cheers,

DH

 

I think that is extremely cool Is it ok if I quote you next time sombody tells me I don't look disabled??? I know it will happen again!

 

i use the 'new posts' shortcut....

there are no posts i could reply to nor have i any general experiances with disabled martial arts.
Its the same as Wing chun forum, i dont practice wing chun and i have nothing worthwhile to contribute so i dont spam up the threads with 'bump to what he said'

 

reply

Surely But Of Course!
LMAO
KFG

 

Thanks