Redefining Disability

In 1999, Norm Page started working as a volunteer coach with the Buffalo Sabres sled hockey team when his 7 year old son Adam started playing. As president of the program he helped build the first sled accessible rink in Buffalo and over the years would see some of their local players make the USA National Sled Hockey Team, including Adam. For about 12 years, he would serves as the sled hockey representative for USA Hockey, putting on clinics across the country. Now with Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports, he is helping the Move United member organization expand its sports offerings, including the growing sport of wheelchair lacrosse.

Steve Serio started playing wheelchair basketball when he was 14 years old and went on to play at the University of Illinois where he led the team to a national championship. He would play professionally in Germany for a few years and also in four Paralympic Games for Team USA, bringing home back to back gold medals in 2016 and 2020. He is equally interested in the difference he makes off the court as he has made on the court.

Jennifer Fitz-Roy is training with the high performance team at US Rowing and is hoping to make the national team this year. She learned to row at Community Rowing Inc. a Move United member organization based in Boston and now serves as the organization’s manager of para and military programs. Jen is a graduate of Boston College, a mentor to disabled youth, and a fierce advocate for inclusion and disability rights.

Retired U.S. Army Private First Class Orlando Perez became paralyzed as a result of a training accident. One of the first adaptive sports he fell in love with was wheelchair basketball and he had the opportunity to play for the Puerto Rican team at the international stage. Then he discovered alpine skiing and turned his attention to compete in this sport at the elite level, training with the National Ability Center, a Move United member organization in Utah. Orlando made history last month when he became the first athlete to represent Puerto Rico at a Winter Paralympic Games.

Jacob Pacheco is a content creator, entrepreneur, model, speaker, professional surfer, and he also adapts to life with Cerebral Palsy. Jacob’s platform often focuses on empowerment and optimization.

Throughout Jacob's life, he’s faced incredible adversity including bullying, medical setbacks and intense surgeries that left him immobile, abuse, and depression. Despite these challenges, Jacob thrives and founded Prone To Ride, an apparel company and content platform.

Nicole Roundy spent six years as a member of the U.S. Paralympic Snowboard Team, being one of the first athletes to compete in the sport of para snowboarding. She would compete in two Winter Paralympic Games in 2014 and 2018. Now that she is retired from the sport, she has turned her attention to her vocation. Since completing her MBA, she has become an email marketing guru in the corporate sector. Nicole also happens to serve on the board of directors of Move United.

Jim Ewing has been an avid climber most of his life. He would injure his foot during a climbing trip in the Cayman Islands. After realizing amputation might be the best route to regain some mobility, he would connect with Hugh Herr, a biophysist at MIT and would undergo a radical new amputation, now known as the Ewing amputation. All of this is the subject of Augmented, a feature documentary that premiered this past month on Nova PBS. Jim is back to climbing so we chat with him about this journey and the documentary.

David Davis is a Los Angeles based journalist whose work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He is also the author of six books, including Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans from World War II Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation. We chat about this book and the history of where and how adaptive sports began.

An accident at age sixteen caused a spinal-cord injury that left Brent Poppen paralyzed. This was a beginning to journeys he never dreamed as he became one of the top disabled athletes in the world. Poppen competed in two consecutive Paralympics, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, in wheelchair rugby and tennis. He earned a Bronze Medal in wheelchair rugby and has received numerous Gold Medals and world titles in both sports. Now, Poppen serves as a rehabilitation counselor at Children’s Hospital in Fresno California. He is also an author, substitute teacher, counselor and motivational speaker.

Kari Miller-Ortiz is a retired U.S. Army Sergeant who lost both her legs when a car she was in was hit by a drunk driver while she was on leave from military duty in 1999. After playing a variety of adaptive sports, including wheelchair basketball, she discovered the sport of sitting volleyball. She would help Team USA win a gold and 2 silver medals over the course of three Paralympics. She has been a huge advocate for adaptive sports and has spent a big part of her career getting other individuals with disabilities involved in sport. Now her focus is to make sure no one is left on the sideline and that everyone experiences the power of sport.