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Camp teaches people with disabilities to ride two-wheel bicycles
BOARDMAN
After Mary Greaney developed severe meningitis as an infant, doctors and therapists weren’t sure if she’d ever walk on her own, her mother said.
The disease caused brain damage, but the effects could have been worse. Her parents were relieved when she began to walk at 21/2.
Now, at age 14, Mary is learning another skill: bicycling.
She and her mother, Lucy, are commuting from Avon every day this week to participate in the iCan Bike program, a camp for people with disabilities that the Down Syndrome Association of the Valley is hosting for the fourth year. Participants in the camp spend 75 minutes per day learning how to ride a conventional two-wheel bike.
The program is run by iCan Shine, a nonprofit organization that teaches recreational activities to individuals with disabilities. The program boasts an 80 percent success rate with teaching participants how to ride a bicycle.
“It’s important for many reasons,” said Emily Horn, a floor supervisor for iCan Shine. “This can increase their self-esteem and self-confidence. A lot of our riders have been trying to ride a bike for many years.”
Also, many people who live with disabilities will never drive a vehicle.
“It is a life skill,” said Debbie Williams of DSAV, who coordinates the camp. “You see every typical child by age 7 on two wheels. It’s not that individuals with disabilities are not able, it’s just that everybody learns differently, so this is just another teaching method.”
Campers learn to ride on adaptive bicycles to which rollers are attached where a rear tire normally would be. As they improve, narrower rollers are attached to the bicycles, with the last set as narrow as a tire.
“The rider is able to have a gradual transition,” said Horn.
The camp, which is using Glenwood Junior High School’s gym, pairs volunteers with each participant to spot them as they learn to ride.
Volunteer Charisse Mayhew was paired this week with Lauren Jones, 13, who said she was having fun at the camp.
“It’s an unbelievable experience as a volunteer,” said Mayhew. “At the end of the week when you see these campers ride on their own, it’s an amazing experience.”
The Greaneys, too, were upbeat about the experience.
As Mary cruised around the gym, a huge smile lit up her face.
“It’s an awesome program,” said Lucy. “It’s coordination. It’s balance. It builds your confidence.”
“It’s a start,” she said.