Students with disabilities

[yukiko]

Hi, I study at University of Kent in UK. My university has Kendo Club, and I am the President of the Club. Having beeb President for 2 consecutive years and trying to be a University Sports Representative for the next year, I am interested in getting opinions from people who have got disability and still play kendo and/or any other sports. If they can describe what kind of disabilities they have and what is the main problem in playing any sports with disabilities! You dont have to be disable to participate in this discussion!I really really appriciate someone who has got a friend who is disable to give me opinions, or someone who goes to a dojo where there are disabled students practicing!

Thanx

yukiko

[Inouye02]

I have a friend who stutters during keiko,
example while doing kote -men
kote me me me me me me men ! during that pause you can do de-kote on him , its sounds mean but its true ,
men d d d d d do ...

[sjp]

Hi, I study at University of Kent in UK. My university has Kendo Club, and I am the President of the Club. Having beeb President for 2 consecutive years and trying to be a University Sports Representative for the next year, I am interested in getting opinions from people who have got disability and still play kendo and/or any other sports. If they can describe what kind of disabilities they have and what is the main problem in playing any sports with disabilities! You dont have to be disable to participate in this discussion!I really really appriciate someone who has got a friend who is disable to give me opinions, or someone who goes to a dojo where there are disabled students practicing!

Thanx

yukiko

I have 1 guy in my dojo who is both deaf & mute. Its no big deal. He watches very carefully and providing you make it clear what is being demonstrated he picks it up very well. The proof is that he got Shodan after 12 months. The only thing i cant see him doing later in his kendo career is being chief referee in match simply because he cant speak. Other than that no limit to what he can do in kendo. We also have 2 students who who made the effort to learn sign language just to talk to him. If someone who is disabled wants to do kendo then we should make the effort to accomodate them. Ok perhaps they will never make a great shiai player but so what, kendo is about so much more.
If you come to Stoke this year for some of the Taikai we are hosting fence him and ask his opinion direct.

[xvikingx]

Back in the U.S., there was a girl in my dojo (naginata) who had some problem with her nervous system. She had uncontrolable switching; kind of like what happens with people who have Parkinson's disease. Besides obvious problems, like relaxing and synchronization, she did quite well and progressed at the same rate as most new students.

[xvikingx]

Ah, I just remembered....
One sleepless night, I was up late watching some wretched kung-fu action flick. In one scene this guy (minus two legs) in a wheelchair gets caught up in the brawl, but he doesn't put up with any sh*t and starts kicking ace.
Two weeks later, I was once again watching bad television (something real low-brow, with a title like "You've Gotta' See This!"), and the wheelchair fellow from the movie came on. Turns out he does kendo as well (in Hawaii). He used his right arm two thrust his body upwards and did all his srikes katate with his left. He has a website but I forgot the URL.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Henry Smalls is the guy in Hawaii with no legs.

I saw a fellow with a club foot years ago, he used jodan and played left foot forward so he could drive off his good foot. Ron Fox was teaching someone in a wheel chair a few years back - I believe it was katate-jodan with the free hand pushing the wheel of the chair. Another guy I know injured his left arm in a motorcycle and had no mobility in his hand, his solution was to "tape" his hand to the shinai with a tensor bandage - but he had already been playing before the accident.

Our sister club in Regina had a great success story. They taught a guy who had some sort of skeletal condition that resulted in a pretty twisted back. Before kendo, he couldn't even stand up straight. Through determination and practice, he was eventually able to move reasonably fluidly kendo style and do suburi, and he credits kendo with improving his overall health. He never wore bogu as his condition made his bones too fragile, but he took up iaido and is now in Okinawa teaching english and studying some koryu or other. His success is mostly due to his own efforts and attitude, and he has had nothing but support and respect from any sensei he has encountered.

[xvikingx]

Henry Smalls is the guy in Hawaii with no legs.

Thank you. Not being able to remember his name has been bothering me. Warrior-priest.com is his budo/ movie production site.

[AlexM]

There is a gentleman at Guelph University in Ontario that practices kendo with one leg. I think he's ni-dan in kendo. Can't remember his name for the life of me (Ed Chart maybe?). I even saw him beat Team Canada member Kyo Kamata in a teams match during the 2002 JCCC tournament (kote-nuki-men).

Anyway, he does good kendo with only one leg but it looks as if he has to work twice or three times as much as everybody else. He hops on the one leg continuously during a match (imagine the energy necessary to do that). From my angle it looks incredibly difficult.

[tyler]

There is a gentleman at Guelph University in Ontario that practices kendo with one leg. I think he's ni-dan in kendo. Can't remember his name for the life of me (Ed Chart maybe?). I even saw him beat Team Canada member Kyo Kamata in a teams match during the 2002 JCCC tournament (kote-nuki-men).

Anyway, he does good kendo with only one leg but it looks as if he has to work twice or three times as much as everybody else. He hops on the one leg continuously during a match (imagine the energy necessary to do that). From my angle it looks incredibly difficult.

You got the name right, Ed is nidan kendo and 4dan iaido. He was my sempai when I was at Guelph and he's got one of the strongest kamae's i know of at the shodan/nidan level. I saw him beat Kyo Kamata as well, it was a great moment for our club.

[yukiko]

Hey, thanx for the replies. I kind of knew the Hawaiian guy from a friend of mine, but never actually heard the story of him. So thanx

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you know any other people with disabilities who play other sports. If you can describe what they need and how we can approach them.

[Kendo-Militia]

Hey, thanx for the replies. I kind of knew the Hawaiian guy from a friend of mine, but never actually heard the story of him. So thanx

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you know any other people with disabilities who play other sports. If you can describe what they need and how we can approach them.
I have a friend who played football who was leaglly deaf. He could hear a little but not well. Anyways, for him to play football, he just wanted to be treated equal. Guys with handicaps do not want to be felt sorry for and for you to treat them differently. Also have many friends in Kendo who have disabilities and I know they do not want to be treated special either.

[orayakab]

If I recall correctly, there was one child about 25 years ago that became the All-Japan Children's Kendo Champion who was one handed.

[yukiko]

I know that a lot of disabled people want to be treated equally, and my purpose of posting my post here is just to get some ideas how i can try to free the barrier that may face the disabled people in sports. The purpose is not to pity them or anything.

My bestfriend has polio since her birth. We still train swimming together whenever I have time to go back to Japan and see her. I just needed some other people's opinion.