Keys to Success

“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” – Scott Hamilton, 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist

I know a young man who inspires just about everyone who meets him. Be it through his ever-present smile, contagious laughter or genuine kindness, it’s nearly impossible not to be happy around this individual. His love and passion for local sports teams is unmatched, and I challenge anyone to beat him in a game of basketball. You’ll probably lose.

Why is that a big deal? Because this person has been diagnosed with various “disabilities” and would be considered, in the common terms of our time, to have “special needs.” Don’t tell him that, however. He’s too busy focusing on making his life and the lives of those around him better. He’s too busy focusing on his abilities to worry about being disabled.

It’s people like my friend who inspire my colleagues and I to do the work we do. It’s people like him who helped change my perception of just what being disabled really meant. Not that long ago, I didn’t even truly understand the meaning of that word. Now, as the director of a non-profit youth organization, I have the privilege of working with groups such as Specialized Needs Recreation and Coeur d’Alene Special Olympics on a regular basis.

The camps and events we’ve hosted with these groups have been some of the best experiences of my life, and I’m not the only one. We routinely have local community members and players on our travel baseball teams ask to volunteer to help work these camps. Obviously, they get as much out of volunteering as the special needs children who attend.

That’s one of the main things I learned working as both a K-12 school counselor and a child development trainer at a group home for disabled boys; that special needs children could teach me as much or more than I could ever teach them. If you don’t believe me, I invite you to attend a Special Olympics event sometime and see if you don’t have a smile plastered to your face from start to finish.

If you’re looking to volunteer locally, this November we’ll be hosting a new camp for children and adolescents with an often-misunderstood disability, diabetes. Diabetes affects almost 400 million people worldwide and the message of our camp is simple: if you don’t let diabetes be a disability, it won’t be. Athletes like former Gonzaga basketball star Adam Morrison and beauty pageant winner Miss Idaho Sierra Sandison are perfect examples of this, as both have excelled in their fields while living with insulin-dependent diabetes (Type I). The 1st Ever Premier Diabetes Camp is scheduled for Nov. 15th and I’m already looking forward to it.

We should all look forward to helping people with disabilities and allowing them to help us. Not only are they needed for teaching us that ability is more important than disability, they’re also needed for reminding us what love and passion truly are. I’m sure my “disabled” friend would agree, but he’s probably too busy changing people’s bad attitudes to comment.

Landon Johnston is the Director of Premier Sports Center, a non-profit indoor sports facility in Post Falls. He also coaches baseball at Gonzaga Prep High School in Spokane. He can be reached at landon@premiersportscenter.org.

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