Damn Bunch of Cripples

I was sitting in a small upstairs room attempting to write this narrative of my education in disability awareness. For over 30 years I have been involved in working with individuals with disabilities as a coach and administrator on the intercollegiate national and international levels. When I started this journey at a small Midwestern University I had no idea of what I was getting myself into. Now that I have traveled this educational path I have come to realize that it may have been one of the most important learning experiences of my life an experience I feel needs to be shared.</p><p>In putting this narrative together one very real issue I struggled with was how to deal with the present climate of political correctness. My decision was to tell the stories as I remember them in the language as I remember. To do differently would change and compromise the actual experience. Thus this is a sharing of feelings and experiences that a coach and his athletes spent in timeless hours in a gym practicing and competing of thousands of miles traveled throughout the United States and beyond and days and nights spent together in laughter and frustration.</p>