Damn Bunch of Cripples: My Politically Incorrect Education in Disability Awareness

I was sitting in a small upstairs room attempting to write this narrative of my education in disability awareness. For over 30 years I have been involved in working with individuals with disabilities as a coach and administrator on the intercollegiate, national and international levels. When I started this journey, at a small, Midwestern University, I had no idea of what I was getting myself into. Now that I have traveled this educational path I have come to realize that it may have been one of the most important learning experiences of my life, an experience I feel needs to be shared.In putting this narrative together, one very real issue I struggled with was how to deal with the present climate of political correctness. My decision was to tell the stories as I remember them, in the language as I remember. To do differently would change and compromise the actual experience. Thus, this is a sharing of feelings and experiences that a coach and his athletes spent in timeless hours in a gym practicing and competing, of thousands of miles traveled throughout the United States and beyond, and days and nights spent together in laughter and frustration.

Lew Shaver was a Professor at Southwest Minnesota State University. He is a member of the Southwest University Athletic Hall of Honor, the Central Intercollegiate Conference Hall of Fame and the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Hall of Fame. He is retired and resides with his wife Judy in Canby, Minnesota.