Author: Aubrey Shaw

Leading as a Scholar with a Physical Limitation: Just Talk to Me

(Article 5 of 5)

People with physical disabilities hold limited positions as scholars, teachers, or leaders in physical education, recreation, and sport. Perhaps the reason is that the field is flooded with able-bodied people who think they know best. But do they? Michael Oliver, imminent writer, and scholar argued that people with physical disabilities should be the only ones in the field of disability studies because they have a bodily experience with disabilities. The following five-part article series shares the perspective of a scholar in the field of disability sports who has her own physical limitations. In each article, she discusses a different issue a person with a physical disability faces in the profession of physical education, recreation, and sport.

Part V: Just Talk to Me

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Leading as a Scholar with a Physical Limitation: If You Cannot Do It – Can You Teach It?

(Article 4 of 5)

People with physical disabilities hold limited positions as scholars, teachers, or leaders in physical education, recreation, and sport. Perhaps the reason is that the field is flooded with able-bodied people who think they know best. But do they? Michael Oliver, imminent writer, and scholar argued that people with physical disabilities should be the only ones in the field of disability studies because they have a bodily experience with disabilities. The following five-part article series shares the perspective of a scholar in the field of disability sports who has her own physical limitations. In each article, she discusses a different issue a person with a physical disability faces in the profession of physical education, recreation, and sport.

Part IV: If You Cannot Do It – Can You Teach It?

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Leading as a Scholar with a Physical Limitation: The Power of Time

(Article 3 of 5)

Dr. Aubrey Shaw [right] with her mentor, Dr. Sharon Stoll
[5-Part Article Series]

People with physical disabilities hold limited positions as scholars, teachers, or leaders in physical education, recreation, and sport. Perhaps the reason is that the field is flooded with able-bodied people who think they know best. But do they? Michael Oliver, imminent writer, and scholar argued that people with physical disabilities should be the only ones in the field of disability studies because they have a bodily experience with disabilities. The following five-part article series shares the perspective of a scholar in the field of disability sports who has her own physical limitations. In each article, she discusses a different issue a person with a physical disability faces in the profession of physical education, recreation, and sport.

Part III: The Power of Time

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Leading as a Scholar with a Physical Limitation: I Am Not an Object or Incompetent

(Article 2 of 5)

[5-Part Article Series]

People with physical disabilities hold limited positions as scholars, teachers, or leaders in physical education, recreation, and sport. Perhaps the reason is that the field is flooded with able-bodied people who think they know best. But do they? Michael Oliver, imminent writer, and scholar argued that people with physical disabilities should be the only ones in the field of disability studies because they have a bodily experience with disabilities. The following five-part article series shares the perspective of a scholar in the field of disability sports who has her own physical limitations. In each article, she discusses a different issue a person with a physical disability faces in the profession of physical education, recreation, and sport.

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Leading as a Scholar with a Physical Limitation: Don’t Judge Me by My Gait

Article 1
Author, Aubrey Shaw age 2.

[5-Part Article Series]

People with physical disabilities hold limited positions as scholars, teachers, or leaders in physical education, recreation, and sport. Perhaps the reason is that the field is flooded with able-bodied people who think they know best. But do they? Michael Oliver, imminent writer, and scholar argued that people with physical disabilities should be the only ones in the field of disability studies because they have a bodily experience with disabilities. The following five-part article series shares the perspective of a scholar in the field of disability sports who has her own physical limitations. In each article, she discusses a different issue a person with a physical disability faces in the profession of physical education, recreation, and sport.

Part I: Don’t Judge Me By My Gait

I once sat in a professional meeting where leading authorities in the field said, “People with physical disabilities should not be physical education teachers because able-bodied students cannot relate to them.”  Able-bodied people assume people with physical disabilities cannot teach or coach. Not true, people with physical disabilities can be good coaches, teachers, and athletes.  And most importantly abled-bodied students can relate to the population. I have a physical limitation and I am an educator and scholar in physical education, recreation, and sport.

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How Attitudes and Resources Affect PE for Students with Physical Disabilities

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Research is clear, students with physical disabilities are excluded from physical education (Jespersen & McNamee, 2009; Martin, 2018). Thus, the purpose of this article is threefold: 1) to share a story of the best possibilities of attitudes and resources for students with physical disabilities, 2) to highlight the reality of what is happening in the schools, and 3) to provide a possible solution of perspective-taking for physical educators.

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The Best Possible World
Let us start with a story. My name is Dr. Aubrey Shaw and when I was six months old my family and I were in a horrible car accident in Wyoming. From the collision with a double semi-truck, our car was smashed from both sides.  Thankfully, no one lost their life that day, but I was surely close to losing mine. I was rushed to the hospital where they found a two-inch tear in my left temporal lobe. I was then airlifted to Denver Children’s Hospital where I underwent brain surgery and two months of a very long recovery. The doctors told my parents I would never walk or talk and was later diagnosed with semi-hemi paralysis due to a traumatic brain injury. After two months in the hospital, my family brought me home to be in a loving environment and daily intense therapy.  I beat the doctors’ diagnoses. Moreover, when I turned five years old I was walking and talking and ready to go to preschool. I then began a nineteen-year journey with special services, therapy, and special education. My parents had the attitude and resources to help me be successful.

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Participation in Sport: Is it Fair, Good, and True for Everyone?

Limited opportunities exist for athletes with physical disabilities to participate in sport (Martin, 2018), specifically, no foundation presently exists for creating generations of athletes with physical disabilities (Shaw & Stoll, 2018).  Many students and children with physical disabilities are excluded from institutional sport, recreation, and physical education where they can learn the fundamentals of a healthy active lifestyle.

A concomitant problem arises, as this population of youth is growing up without the fundamental knowledge of how to be active. However, what if there was a better way to provide individuals with physical disabilities the knowledge and skills for a healthy active lifestyle?  The purpose of this paper examines an argument to include students and athletes with physical disabilities in sport, recreation, and physical education beyond the minimum requirements by law.

Historical Background
The problem of inclusion is not historically modern since people with physical disabilities were excluded from every aspect of life. They were left to die on the streets, were killed at birth, or were hidden away (Rimmerman, 2013). Often the brutish societal behavior was collaborated through early laws.  From the inception of the law, i.e., Mosaic Law, Roman law, Hammurabi’s code, and Hebraic rule, individual rights were seldom addressed. Instead, what was good for the masses ruled, and thus the minority, that is people with disabilities, were excluded or eliminated.

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