Learning From My Mistake - Regarding Athletes with Disabilities

When you make a mistake in a race we discuss what you can change for the next time through. Armed with the knowledge of how to better succeed, you try again and hope for the best. Well, even your coaches make mistakes and I’d like to tell you about one of mine (Coach Alex). Back in January I wrote up a post about a man with Down Syndrome who was the first to complete an IronMan race. I recently learned via REACH that when writing about people with disabilities it can be harmful to portray an accomplishment of a person with a disability as “superhuman... This inadvertently implies that a person with a disability lacks or has very limited skills, talents, or unusual gifts.” I’d like to apologize to anyone who may have been harmed by that post and will do better in the future with my new knowledge! I’d also like to leave you with this article that gave me a better understanding of what it can be like to be an athlete with a disability - Disabled, Athletic and Not Trying to Inspire Anybody, Heroic Tales of Disabled Athletes Celebrate the Exceptional and Exclude Those Who are Simply Trying to Compete.