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The truth is we all have things we cannot do.
In some cases it is because of self-imposed physical limitations. If you don’t do enough aerobic exercise, sooner or later you won’t be able to run any great distance, or otherwise do too much activity that taxes your lung and heart capacity. Most of us can change that sort of limitation with determination, but it is real all the same.
Other limitations are psychological. Some people eagerly embrace the opportunity to jump out of a perfectly good airplane with no real training — harnessed to a veteran with a parachute (as you can at the Hazleton Airport). Others simply can’t envision considering such action, or any skydiving option whatsoever.
But then there are those who have physical limitations more consequential than a lack of exercise or a phobia to overcome. If you lost a leg you can’t run a marathon without adapting to an artificial replacement first, for example.
Yet history shows us incessantly that we have the collective capacity to get past those obstacles. And it is always heartening to see individuals and organizations do just that. One example: Monday’s story about the Individual Abilities in Motion adaptive paddling workshop at Misericordia University.
Arguably, the person exemplifying the value of such efforts was Barbara Romanansky. As staff writer Margaret Roarty recounted, Romanansky had been a passionate and capable kayaker until losing a leg due to a blood clot. She remembered crying to her physical therapist, terrified she’d never kayak again.
The human ability to rebound from such deep doubts and overcome life-altering events has been well documents. Romanansky is kayaking again, but she holds here personal experience up as a beacon for both those like her and, importantly, those of us never confronted with such hurdles.
“The bottom line of this is making integration happen,” she said.
IAM is one of many area organizations aiming for that bottom line every day. It can be as simple as a wheelchair access ramp (or even just removal of those little bumps often set up at the bottom of exterior doorways), to providing assistive hearing, vision or other devices in schools or workplaces. In this case the organization opted to show adaptive equipment available for those who want to be able to paddle a kayak.
Most of us take for granted the ability to get into and out things like cars, cabs or kayaks, but the actions are much more complicated than many realize, involving a lot of highly trained muscle movements and a lot of balance shifting that keeps us from falling. Part of this weekend’s workshop was learning to get in and out of kayaks, and to operate them safely, with an able-bodied companion if necessary.
This isn’t just about being able to kayak (or bowl, or bicycle, or anything else IAM and other agencies help happen). It is about experience, and it’s about perspective — also things most people take for granted.
“It’s nice to get on to the water,” wheelchair user Nichole Santiago said of the experience, “and see different views and not be in the chair.”
It also helps when those of us who don’t confront the issues of others realize how valuable a little support can be. Perspective isn’t just where you sit, it’s what you choose to see.