Other than the excellent blog at Gisoku Budo, Mokuren Dojo is the only blog I know of that has dedicated a significant number of posts to the topic of martial arts for people with physical disabilities (or perhaps just other-abilities). These posts come from the perspective of having taught a blind aikido/jodo student, a one-armed aikido student, and a lot of older students ranging in age from their 50's to their 80's. Now I'm not saying that aging=disability, but certainly the elderly have differing capabilities as opposed to young adults. These are all special populations.
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If you are interested in this topic, check out the following articles, and by all means, follow the Gisoku Budo blog.
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- A video about an elderly sensei in a wheelchair
- A video about an extremely elderly judoka
- Some thoughts about teaching aikido to older adults
- More on martial arts for older adults
- Making the most of the time we have left
- Working with a blind girl with a weapon
- More on visually-impaired aikido
- Jodo for the visually impaired
- A blind white-belt girl taught me a fine lesson
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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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To your list I just wanted to add an inspiring figure for me in Goju Ryu - Sensei John Marrable. He's paraplegic and holds a 5th degree black belt. Really amazing guy.
ReplyDeleteThere's a video here of a demonstration he did fending off two attackers at the World Budosai in 2008.
That was a pretty cool video, Krista. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Patrick - the reason I started my blog is because there wasn't a lot on disabled people studying martial arts, so hopefully our respective blogs will assist in providing advice, support and a soundboard for those out there curious about the possibilities.
ReplyDeleteOh, and thanks for the plug as well :)