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Mar 19, 2008 4:24 pm US/Eastern
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Students Learn Valuable Lesson: We're All The Same
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (WBZ) ―
For a gym class in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, it's a lesson on more than just basketball. Middle schoolers are being taught that even with a disability, you can still be in the game.
"I fall over all the time but you guys won't," explains Chandler of Northeast Passage, who suffered a spinal cord injury in a car crash when he was 15-years old. "That makes me a paraplegic. I can use my hands, and can't use my legs, paraplegic means disabled in two limbs."
Now he takes his story -- and some chairs -- to students in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. "There's been a civil rights movement, women's rights... Now we're working on disability rights, we're trying to get people to see everyone's the same."
The idea is to see how it feels to be in a wheelchair, and to realize all you can do. "It can be challenging to be in a wheelchair, but you can still do stuff, I found that good," said seventh grader Graham Chag.
"We're trying to show society and everyday people that we're like everybody else, we want to play sports enjoy recreation, love learn, we want to do it all, we just want to get that chance," said Chandler.
Northeast Passage -- based at the University of New Hampshire -- also helps people with disabilities enjoy sports like waterskiing, snow skiing and golf. Click here to learn more about the program.
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