The 27th annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games was held in Milwaukee last week.
I heard about it on NPR, and it reminded me of a fine film about wheelchair rugby: Murderball.
The NPR story talked about the fact that a lot of newer, younger disabled Vets are joining the games, adding new energy to the competition.
This is, of course, good news and bad news. The bad news is that there are more disabled Vets to participate. It may reflect the fact that more are being wounded, or that more who in the past would have died of their wounds are being saved and now, the important thing is to get them back into society to lead normal lives.
The good news is that perhaps participation in sports lets them, and others, realize that they are normal, healthy men and women who retain a strong competitive streak, and have a way to channel it.
That was the take-home message of Murderball, as well. The wheelchair athletes in that documentary are every bit as athletic and competitive as any on two legs...as mean and vicious sometimes, too. But the example of these physically and mentally tough (and normal) people can serve as an example and a lifeline to those struggling to cope with a new disability, whether acquired through war, or through a gunshot wound or a motor vehicle accident, or disease.
[Image from Paralyzed Veterans of America]
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Posted by: Liberator | March 16, 2011 at 11:35 PM