A database of news and information about people with disabilities and disability issues...
Copyright statement: Unless otherwise stated, all posts on this blog continue to be the property of the original author/publication/Web site, which can be found via the link at the beginning of each post.
SEATTLE - Scott Rigsby (pictured) made history. He was the first double amputee to cross the finish line at the most grueling one day race on this planet - the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon.
We caught up with him on his recent Seattle visit. He was autographing his new book "Unthinkable" at a prosthetics convention in Seattle. Naturally, we wanted to hear all about his historic race - how one man with two artifical legs could possible complete 2.4 miles in the water, 112 miles on the bike and a 26.2 mile run to top it off.
But Scott wanted to talk about something else. The kids.
"A lot of these kids are from war-torn countries," says Rigsby as he pointed to the pictures in the 'picture book' he carries with him. They are children who've been neglected, abandoned, left to die for one reason - they're disabled.
It breaks Scott's heart.
"When I was 18 and I had my accident, my family, they rallied around me. Whereas kids over there, they're institutionalized. They're looked upon as like lesser, less than human", says Rigsby.
So Rigsby's teamed up with World Vision to get people in our community to sponsor a child for $35 a month. It's what Scott is giving to Hillary's family.
"What if he grows up to be a great leader? It's because, you know what? He didn't starve that year. He didn't starve the next year," said Rigsby.
Rigsby knows about small steps. It's how he's lived his life. So today, his hope, his prayer is to get one person to help one child.
He found someone. Dee Camp.
"What an honor to be able to do that," says Camp. Camp decided today to help 8-year-old Jose Francisco live a better life, thanks to the man who carries a picture book everywhere he goes.
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (www.gadim.org). A former print journalist, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/). Haller is Professor Emerita in the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Haller is co-editor of the 2020 "Routledge Companion to Disability and Media" (with Gerard Goggin of University of Sydney & Katie Ellis of Curtin University, Australia). She is author of "Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media" (Advocado Press, 2010) and the author/editor of Byline of Hope: Collected Newspaper and Magazine Writing of Helen Keller (Advocado Press, 2015). She has been researching disability representation in mass media for 30+ years. She is adjunct faculty in the Disability Studies programs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Texas-Arlington.
From KING 5 News:
