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Brazilian group shows how we can make beaches more accessible to disabled people
One minute, Renata Glasner is watching the water crash onto the beach from her wheelchair. The next, she's surfing waves on a specially adapted surfboard.
Glasner, a 35-year-old graphic designer who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis four years ago, is one of dozens of disabled people conquering the waves on a special strip of beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Men and women with Down syndrome, people missing a limb, the blind, the deaf and even the paralyzed all surf here.
They all require a different kind of assistance depending on their disabilities, and they maneuver their surfboards in different ways — some standing, some on their knees and others like Glasner flat on their bellies. But every one of them emerges from the ocean smiling.
Glasner is able to savor this experience on a weekly basis thanks to AdaptSurf, a Rio-based nongovernmental organization that aims to make beaches accessible to the disabled and encourage them to practice water sports.
Life as a disabled person can be especially challenging in Brazil. The lack of ramps, sidewalks and pedestrian crossings makes leaving home risky for many disabled people. But in Brazil, with its nearly 7,500-kilometer-long coastline, the beach is where many social gatherings take place: It's there that families reunite, that friendships are made and that couples come together. For the disabled to be deprived of the chance to go to the beach is doubly isolating, said AdaptSurf co-founder Henrique Saraiva.
"Imagine you're in a country where the beach is the most important place. But when you're confined to a chair, the farthest you can get is the sidewalk, and you sit there sweating under the sun and watching everyone play in the water," said Saraiva. "It's the most frustrating experience."
Saraiva and two friends created AdaptSurf in 2007, some 10 years after a mugging left Saraiva partially paralyzed. The then-18-year-old Saraiva was cycling near his home when he was attacked by several young men who wanted his bike. One of them pulled a gun and shot him. The bullet hit his spine.
Several months later, after learning to walk again using crutches, Saraiva pulled out his old surfboard and tried to surf. "It was magical. The water is the one place where I can forget about my handicap," said Saraiva.
In a bid to share that experience with others, Saraiva founded AdaptSurf with the help of two friends. It convenes every Saturday and Sunday of the year, weather permitting. At first, the group had just one used surfboard and only three participants, but AdaptSurf has steadily grown. Now several dozen disabled people come from across Rio to attend AdaptSurf. Recently, the group also got a generous donation of new surfboards and specially designed wheelchairs.
Andre Souza, a 33-year-old who was paralyzed from the waist down in a 2001 motorcycle accident, had never surfed before he joined AdaptSurf. Now, he hopes to enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the disabled surfer who's spent the most time on a wave. While a typical disabled surfer spends an average of about 10 to 15 seconds on a wave, Souza last year spent over three minutes riding an especially big wave. He hopes to surf another big one later this year.
"The first time I caught a wave was the happiest moment of my life," said Souza. "It's the place where I have felt the most freedom since my accident. All day long, you are literally a prisoner in your chair, in your bed, in your body. I don't have the words to describe the freedom I feel on my surfboard."
資料來源：http://chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?id=3544&next=1&sub=24
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