Michael Fischbach leads a group out into the courtyard at the Harper Student Wellness Center at the Medical University of South Carolina. They all have cameras in hand. He reminds them to adjust their plus minus settings on their cameras, because they are now out of the shade. After a flurry of snaps and flashes, Fischbach is suddenly surrounded by his students.

“Fish! Fish! Look at my picture.”

Everyone calls him “Fish,” for short.

As human services assistant in the student services department at MUSC, Fischbach teaches photography to people with disabilities. The free course is funded by proceeds from another photography course he teaches to the public.

Fischbach says he tries to make photography fun.

“Photography teaches people they can live out their own dreams and is a way to express yourself. You can take photography anywhere, and anyone can do it.”

The class participants are practicing and learning the ins and outs of their cameras so they can take portraits of someone who inspires them. Those photographs will be on display at the Disabilities Awareness Walk June 5 at Hampton Park.

Many opportunities are available in the Lowcountry for those with disabilities to learn a new skill, play a sport or simply meet new people.

Shelli Davis, therapeutic recreation coordinator for the city of Charleston, has plenty of fun things in store this summer including golf, soccer, tennis, swimming, socials and the Gorilla Gardening Club, which offers 
horticulture therapy at area gardens and parks.

In the winter, there is basketball. In the fall, there’s golf, tennis and soccer. Athletes have the option to compete in the Special Olympics Games.

Davis is currently working on getting more programming in Berkeley County and says anyone interested in finding out about programs in any area may contact her.

“Even if they don’t live in the city, I’ll still hook them up with the right program.”

Visit calendar.yahoo.com/shellicityofcharleston for more information.

Play ball!

Lucy Swaffield is district field program director for the Special Olympics, a sports organization that provides training and competition opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Swaffield says the organization offers programs in schools as well as in the community, locally serving about 800 athletes.

Athletes must have an intellectual deficit to qualify, not just a physical disability (many have both). Athletes train for eight weeks before they compete. Competitions are held on the local, state, national and even global levels.

Eighteen different sports are offered in the Charleston area, and athletes can participate for free. Special Olympics covers the cost of uniforms, transportation, food and lodging at away events. The only cost associated is if parents want extras such as personal hats.

Athletes must be 8 years old to participate in competition. But for the younger kids, Special Olympics offers a non-competitive program for ages 3 to 8 called Young Athletes. It offers basic sports skills and games.

Locally most traditional sports are offered, such as softball, basketball and tennis and more, but activities also include nontraditional sports, such as kayaking, disc golf and sailing.

“The biggest benefits I’ve seen have been on the social side of things,” Swaffield says. “It’s a great opportunity for the individual to build friendships. It gives them the opportunity to be around other people and learn basic social skills … also through these sports they’re learning discipline, self-control and turn-taking – skills they can use throughout their life through the medium of sports.”

Another local sports program is the Charleston Miracle League.

The baseball field is rubberized and designed so that everyone, regardless of disability, can play baseball. Ages 5 to 18 are welcome to play in the spring and fall leagues.

Channing Proctor, founder of the Charleston Miracle League, says minimal commitment is required. No practices are scheduled and athletes can attend as many games as they wish.

The organization also offers socials during the off season, including bowling, swimming and more.

For more information visit www.charlestonmiracleleague.org. In Summerville, visit the www.summervillemiracleleague.org.

Green thumbs

Catherine McGuinn, program director of Adaptive Gardens of the Lowcountry, located on Thornhill Farm in McClellanville, teaches recreational horticulture to individuals of all ages with disabilities. Programs include vocational training, field trip programs and public hours when anyone may come to learn about horticulture.

“We can pick flowers, pick lettuces,” McGuinn says. “There’s a tons of stuff to do on the farm. We’re always pulling weeds, always trellising tomatoes and harvesting for the farm store.”

Students also make cottage industry products such as herbal soaps, seed paper and beeswax candles using plants from the one-eighth-acre garden.

“We have a field of calendula flowers and chamomile flowers that we harvest and dry to put into the soaps (in the fall).”

They use the seed paper to plant because it’s easy to grasp.

“We get shredded paper and we make [seed] paper … then we embed seeds in the paper so that children with disabilities can plant them in lieu of teeny tiny seeds.”

Kids with behavioral and emotional 
disabilities are also welcome.

“This is a very safe place where they can learn to self-direct.”

McGuinn meets with the special education teachers and determines the child’s IEP goals and works to help the child meet those goals.

“With the children with more physical disabilities, we work on developing fine motor skills.”

But it’s not all gardening, she says. Other skills are practiced as well.

“When walking down the roads we do a lot of side stepping – they have to move their feet apart and back together … that’s great way to work on balance and coordination and gross motor skills.”

The objective is to teach a recreational skill.

“There aren’t a lot of recreational skills they can take beyond high school and share with their care provider when they’ve aged out of a program. Gardening is physical, and it’s fun and productive. It’s a recreational skill that they can learn and do on their own.”

It’s also vocational. McGuinn says they want to employ people with disabilities, and the program teaches them skills they can use later for employment.

For more information visit adaptive
gardens.org.