Abilities Expo Anaheim 2008

This Sunday, someone invited me to the Abilities Expo in Anaheim. There was lots of interesting stuff. I also went to a presentation by Craig Kennedy, of Access Anything. I took a couple of pictures.

The absolute coolest technology I saw while I was there belonged to a little girl, about ten years old, in a wheelchair. She was a double amputee and she had on two racing blade prosthetic legs for running (like Oscar Pistorius). (I think she was in a wheelchair because, while the blades are perfect for sprinting, I believe they are very difficult to walk in.) Style-wise, she had him beaten by miles though, because the sockets of her prosthetics were Hello Kitty-themed. Yes, that's right, Hello Kitty prosthetic legs for racing. I didn't take a picture because I didn't want to bother her, but rest assured that she was awesome. Her competitors on the track probably fall over in the starting blocks, hit by the forceful waves of little-girl-coolness coming off of her. I wonder if she will be eligible to qualify for the 2016 Olympics...Pistorius is breaking ground for kids like her this year.
My favorite pics:

For those of you who are concerned that your wheelchair doesn't match your chopper, I present this beauty, in black with neon green flames.


And for those of you concerned that your motorcycle and sidecar don't match your wheelchair and your electric guitar, "Colours Wheelchair" has got you covered.


This kid is trying to think of a way to ask his mom to buy him his very own iBot Wheelchair. Must...have...awesome...chair...please...mom...buy me one!

Craig Kennedy had lots of interesting things to say about adaptive recreation. First, he said that you can't do adaptive sports without "PVC pipe and duct tape." Totally true. Adaptive sports equipment is sometimes expensive, hand-engineered, and built by hand to high specifications. Even so, adapting that equipment to the particular size and shape of a person can still be a challenge--duct tape is the quickest way to jury-rig a solution for an individual. One quick example: a bi-skier with lots of arm strength but poor hand grip strength could have their hands in their mittens duct-taped onto their outriggers in a gripping position, so they don't have to struggle with a grip that they can't maintain by themselves.

Mr. Kennedy talked about some interesting things I hadn't heard of before, like adaptive wakeboarding and this wheelchair-accessible tent. The crowd at his talk was small, but I could feel that they were getting really enthusiastic about adaptive sports as he talked. When the talk ended, I had to sneak over to a young man sitting across from me named John to tell him about USARC's skiing program and summer program. He had never heard of it and he looked excited, so maybe I'll see him on the slopes next year! I'll leave you with my favorite quote from his talk:

Every sport out there has been adapted for people with disabilities. The last thing we will adapt will be people's attitudes-about what we can do, what we are capable of doing.

Images: 1. A snazzy chopper motorcycle with a manual wheelchair hooked onto the back of it. 2. A black motorcycle with orange flames has a sidecar containing a manual wheelchair with a leopard print seat. On the ground beside it is a matching electric guitar. 3. A little boy in a baseball cap is standing and staring up in awe at a man in an iBot, a wheelchair that raises up on two wheels. The man is leaning down and chatting to the boy's mother. A banner in the background reads: 'Go where you want to go...Do what you want to do.'

All About Adaptive Skiing, Part Two: How Do You Ski?

In Part One of All About Adaptive Skiing, I explained the who, what, and why of adaptive skiing, skiing technique, equipment, and instruction for people with physical or cognitive disabilities. In part two, I'll address the how. How do you ski?

I'll break it down starting with the basics.
Two-trackers: A typical ski setup is, as most people know, a pair of stiff plastic boots and two long skis. Two-trackers usually carry poles, but may not for various reasons. Poles aren't necessary at all, and in fact ski instructors often don't use poles. An adaptive skier might use this setup if they have only a cognitive disability, or a minor physical disability. Some people with single leg amputations use the typical setup, and for others it doesn't work at all.
Someone with a cognitive disability, for instance Down syndrome or autism, uses a typical skiing technique but benefits from adaptive skiing more than from typical ski school lessons. This is simply because adaptive skiing instructors have the knowledge to adapt their lessons to accommodate whatever learning challenges the skiers have.

Other two-trackers include hearing and visually impaired skiers. Deaf skiers sometimes wear a bright orange vest that says "Deaf Skier," or something similar, and visually impaired skiers almost always wear a vest that says "Blind Skier." Blind skiers ski with sighted guides who physically or verbally guide them as they ski. I once passed a line of ten blind skiers blazing down a run, led by one sighted skier. They were all singing "California Dreaming" to let the person above them know where to go with an audible cue.
You might hear the typical set-up called two-tracking, so named because each ski forms one track in the snow as you ski. Which brings us to

Three-trackers: A skier with a single leg amputation, or with use of only one leg, might be a "three-tracker," skiing on one ski only. Instead of poles, a three-tracker carries two outriggers, one in each hand. An outrigger looks like a crutch with a little tiny ski on the bottom. It can be used to glide like a ski, or the ski part can be pulled up and used as a brake. In this way, it's like the skier has three skis to help support balance and turning. I can three-track at an intermediate level, but it makes my skiing foot REALLY tired. I think three-tracking is a lot of fun!

Four-trackers: Four-trackers ski on two skis and ALSO carry two outriggers. Skiers with disabilities that affect their legs are sometimes four-trackers. For instance, someone with cerebral palsy who walks with canes or crutches might be a four-track skier. In the photo, a man with two prosthetic legs is four-tracking. Another variation is skiing with a cool walker that is mounted on skis. The skier holds the walker for support as they ski. A skier who might not be able to four-track may have more success in a

Mono-Ski: The mono-ski is really the Ferrari of adaptive skiing technology. It goes the fastest and is the most maneuverable. If you see a seated adaptive skier burning down the slopes at your local mountain, she is mostly likely a mono-skier. The typical mono-ski user has a disability that affects his lower limbs but has good trunk control, arm control, and reflexes, for example high or low paraplegia, cerebral palsy, or double leg amputation.
(Don't confuse this with another type of mono-ski, much beloved of Frenchmen in goofy snowsuits! That mono-ski looks like a great fat ski that you strap both your feet into.)
An adaptive mono-ski looks like a bucket seat and foot rest mounted on one long ski. It has a spring suspension to protect the skier from bumps. The bucket seat pushes the skier forward into a very dynamic position. A mono-skier holds short outriggers which she uses to balance and turn.
The mono-ski is difficult for some people to master, so let me introduce you to the

Bi-Ski: I have to confess that the bi-ski is my favorite of all the adaptive skiing disciplines. When I volunteer, I usually help out on a bi-ski lesson. The bi-ski has a bucket seat and foot rest, which are mounted on two specially-made skis. The magic of the bi-ski is this: as the bi-ski tips to one side, the skis actuate independently and cause the ski to carve, which makes the ski turn! In the photo you can see that the skier is leaning to the left, causing the two skis to tip up on their left edges. A bi-ski can be turned by the skier leaning to one side. A careful bi-skier can even turn the ski by inclining his head to one side or the other. The typical bi-skier has cerebral palsy, high-level paraplegia, or quadriplegia. Some bi-skiers hold outriggers to balance themselves. Other bi-skiers, who can't hold outriggers, might use fixed riggers. Fixed riggers are simply outriggers that are mounted to the sides of the bi-ski. They reduce the chance of the bi-ski tipping over and they help someone with limited mobility have more independence from the instructor on the slopes.

That sums it up for the most commonly used equipment and technique for adaptive skiing. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment! There are a handful of other devices, like the adaptive snowboard, sit-ski, and dual-ski, which are either being phased out or are not used commonly. I might do a post on those in the future. Stay tuned for Part 3 and Part 4: A list of adaptive skiing programs and some reflections on becoming an adaptive skiing volunteer.

Images: 1. A cute little boy in ski racing gear and helmet is bent over on his skis with his poles tucked back for speed. 2. A man missing his right leg just above the knee skis on his left leg. He holds two poles with small skis on the ends. 3. A man with two prosthetic legs skis with two poles with small skis on the ends. His instructor skis behind watching him. 4. Side view of a man in heavy jacket and pants seated in a bucket seat mounted on a ski. He steadies himself with his handheld outriggers. 5. A woman in pink sits in a bi-ski smiling. She has tipped it way over to the side for an aggressive turn and she is reaching her outriggers out on the snow.

All About Adaptive Skiing, Part One

I have been fortunate enough to volunteer at three different adaptive skiing programs. Similar programs exist at ski resorts all over the world. When I tell people about what we do as adaptive skiers and instructors, they are almost always very surprised. I thought I would share some info about adaptive skiing and my perspective on it.

Skiing is my thing. I didn't learn to ski until I was nearly 18 years old. Most expert skiers I meet started skiing before they started kindergarten. I definitely caught up now and would consider myself an expert skier.

Why skiing? Skiing is awesome! Communing with nature out in the snow and the cold is truly a magical experience. The silence of huge snowy trees will fill you with awe. And the skiing itself is incredible. It really does feel like flying. In my opinion, there is no sensation that can compare to gliding down a deep slope through waist-deep fresh powder snow.
I once skied all weekend with a first grade boy seated in a bi-ski. He had cerebral palsy and he could only say about 50 words. He spent the entire weekend on the slopes screaming "WOOOOO-HOOOOO!" with a huge grin on his face. He was so loud that people ahead of us were stopping to turn and smile at him as he went by. When we would stop at the bottom he would shout, "More! Fastah! Gooooo higha!" So I think the feeling is universal.
For me the feeling of freedom that flying down a snowy slope provides is very valuable. It has been my observation that for kids with mobility impairments (and often adults too), screaming down the hill as fast as their instructor will allow them is nothing short of a magical experience. Lots of kids get wrapped up in cotton and treated like a china doll, so the opportunity to fly (and to crash in the cold soft snow) is really special. Even if the family ski trip only happens once a year, for many kids that is the best day of the year.

What is adaptive skiing? Adaptive skiing is skiing, sometimes with specialized equipment, for people with disabilities who cannot ski using regular equipment or regular instruction techniques. Adaptive skiers ski using a regular technique, or ski on one leg, or while seated, or using a ski-mounted walker, to name a few adaptive technologies. Adaptive snowboarding is a new sport that is rapidly being developed as well.

Who can ski? Almost anyone can ski. I have seen a five-year-old girl lugging an oxygen tank skiing. I have seen a sixty-year-0ld man with severe spastic quad cerebral palsy skiing. Many children with autism and cognitive impairments enjoy specialized instruction to match their learning needs at adaptive ski schools. Some examples of disabilities adaptive skiers might have: cerebral palsy, spina bifida, paraplegia, quadriplegia, muscular dystrophy, amputation, autism, cognitive impairment, Down syndrome, behavioral disorder, epilepsy, tracheostomy, colostomy, g-tube, cerebral shunt, visual impairment, and hearing impairment. Adaptive skiers range in age from 5 to 75. Just about the only people who can't ski are those with fragile bones or who otherwise need to avoid falling (maybe osteogenesis imperfecta or osteoporosis, for example).

Coming soon:
Part Two: How do you ski? All about adaptive skiing equipment and techniques.
AND
How do you teach/volunteer? The roles of the instructor/volunteer in adaptive skiing.
Where can you ski? I'm planning a comprehensive list of adaptive skiing programs in the US. Maybe later, the world!

Image: Paralympic gold medalist and all-around super-stud paraplegic athlete Chris Waddell tears it up on a mono-ski. Source.