Abilities

Today was officially the 4th day of Awareness Europe - already time seems to be flashing by and we are having an absolute blast. Today we rode from Gretna Green (A small town in Southwestern Scotland) to Newcastle Upon Tyne in the UK. That meant that today was our first border crossing! After the quick 5 miles to the border we stopped to take pictures (which will be uploaded soon, I promise!) and got back on the bike to make it to Newcastle in time for our friendship visit. Unfortunately, our ride was cut short by some bike malfunctions and we had to rack into Newcastle. After arriving at our sponsored lodging at Newcastle University, we quickly changed into our team t-shirt to go enjoy Visually Impaired Cricket!
The four of us met three members of the Durham Visually Impaired Cricket Club (DVICC) at a metro station near our house. These three gentlemen (who had visual impairments) showed us how to use the metro system in the UK, an impressive feat indeed. After arriving to the cricket club, we were greeted by their coach and began to partake in their practice. The team did their best to explain the rules to four Americans who had grown up with baseball, but even after the extensive rules lesson, there were definitely growing pains throughout practice. The practice was a combination of Ethan, Jay, Addison, and I (Hunter) partaking in drills and helping out with drills. We did our best to help, and really got a sense of empathy while trying to partake in the drills. Trying to hit a ball with a cricket bat with your eyes closed is an extremely tough task. We were the only ones to not ever hit the ball when partaking in batting practice. We then moved onto bowling (pitching) and fielding drills. Now, people with visual impairments were trying to throw the ball in a very specific direction by using noise as their guide. While the players on the cricket team could throw the ball with pin-point accuracy, the four of us once again struggled and definitely brought a lot of laughter to the experienced players of the DVICC. All of us were amazed by the talent and abilities this team had. One of Push's core values is Abilities - encouraging us to focus on the abilities of an individual as opposed to the disabilities of that individual. Today was a perfect example of why that is so important. For most people, the members of the DVICC are people with a visual impairment. Unfortunately, that is the most prevalent part of our thoughts, too. For us, though, the members of the DVICC are incredible cricket players first, and the fact that they have a visual impairment only makes their abilities that much more impressive. It is our hope here on Awareness Europe that our efforts encourage others to look beyond people's disabilities and focus on their abilities. By doing so, chances are, you'll find that someone with a disability most likely has an ability that you don't have, and it will blow you away.
-Hunter Sprague