Tag Archives: disabilities

Partnering with parks department yields Miracle Field

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Look at the field from behind home plate
The Miracle Field has a rubberized, barrier-free turf that allows children with disabilities to play baseball safely.

Editor’s Note: In 2010, the Fargo-Moorhead Rotary Foundation, which is supported by five Rotary clubs in the Fargo, North Dakota, and Moorhead, Minnesota, USA, area, raised 100 percent of the funds needed to build a Miracle Field in Moorhead. Keith Brokke shares how they were able to make an impact with their project.

By Keith Brokke, past governor of District 5580 (Minnesota, North Dakota, USA) and a member of the Rotary Club of Fargo-Moorhead AM

In the spring of 2010, a Rotary member came to us with the idea to build a Miracle Field, a special field with a rubberized, barrier-free turf that allows children with disabilities to play baseball safely. We had previously built a universal playground five years before in Fargo to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of Rotary. We felt a Miracle Field was a good fit for our Fargo-Moorhead Rotary Foundation.

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Korean Rotary club gives visually-impaired a chance to ride

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A Rotary member in a blue vest adjusts the helmet for a visually-impaired rider.
Volunteer Shin Tae Byull adjusts the helmet of his riding partner at the start of the 24-kilometer ride.

By Seoha Lee
Photos by Seongjoon Cho

Early one morning in late October, members of the Rotary Club of Cheongju Dream, Korea, gathered with volunteers at Mushimcheon River Park, Cheongju, Korea. Excitement filled the air as visually-impaired individuals, young and old, arrived with social worker companions for a four-hour tandem bicycle ride.

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Kid, You Can project helps children take first steps

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Therapist Paramonova holds a verticalizer as a small child attempts to move forward
Olga Paramonova works with a child to help him take his first steps, assisted by the Katusha verticalizer.

By Anna Tumanova, president, Rotary Club of Moscow Center, Russian Federation

I remember how impatiently I waited for my Varvara to run. I waited for my daughter’s first step for 10 months. But there are parents who wait for years. And there are those who will never experience this happiness.

What is it like for a young person who can’t lean on his own feet? How do they see the world? What is their social circle?  Are they confined to the four walls of a small apartment, where they are heroically dragged along by their mother, whose life begins and ends with a child with special needs.

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New club makes disability advocacy a priority

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By Ken Masson, President, The Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy

Ken Masson
Ken Masson

The need for human rights for people with disabilities is worldwide. From the largest to the smallest countries, there are opportunities for Rotary to improve the dignity, respect, and quality of lives for people with disabilities. That is why we chartered the Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy. We saw so many possibilities of what Rotary could do.

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How does it look when I walk?

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Francine Falk-Allen

By Francine Falk-Allen

As a polio survivor (age three, left with partial paralysis of one leg which did not grow as much as the other leg), all of my life I have had moments when I turned to see a child trying to imitate my walk. It was always disconcerting, and of late, just a little surprising, as when you realize toilet paper is stuck to your shoe and trailing along behind.  When I matured, I could smile at the pantomime, and think, “Do I really walk like that??!”  Continue reading →