Local grad opens student's eyes
Danielle Peers proves ability and disability are a matter of perception

(taken from theOctober 07, 2006 St. Albert Gazette)
By Kevin Ma
Staff Writer

   

Danielle Peers wheels her way to the front of the gym. More than two hundred elementary students watch her every move.Danielle Peers

OK, she says, everyone here without a disability stand up. Everyone does. She asks everyone with glasses to take them off and then she asks them to read a slide of tiny text on screen. "All those who took your glasses off, you have a disability since you don't have the tools yo need to read," she says. Twenty-some student sit down.

"You all have disabilities," Peers says, "and you're all handicapped, but you're also all still able." The important thing in life isn't necessarily overcoming those handicaps, she says, but learning to get back up when they knock you down.

Peers, who won gold for Canada at this summer's wheelchair basketball championships in Amsterdam, spoke at Robert Rundle Elementary School Friday at the school's monthly assembly. A Paul Kane High School graduate, the 28-year-old is currently studying social policy at the University of Alberta and is a member of the Canadian national wheelchair basketball team.

The school got the idea to bring in Peers after hearing her speak at Paul Kane's graduation ceremonies in June, says principal John Osgood. Since Peers is a teammate of Robert Rundle alumnus and paraplegic Jennifer Krempien, it seemed like a good idea to bring her over, he says. Krempien will also come by the school later in the year to play wheelchair basketball, he adds.

"Everyone has a challenge, but (Peers) hasn't let hers get her down," Osgood says. "It's not often I have (someone) who can hold the attention of a group of kids aged five to 12 for 45 minutes."

Peers has muscular dystrophy.

"I've got week muscles in my legs," she explains to the students, meaning she has a "silly walk" and tends to fall down a lot.

She says she was very depressed when she was diagnosed with the disease in college and went to tell Krempien the bad news.

"Congratulations!" Krempien told her. "Now you can try out for the national team!" Everyone's muscles go downhill once they're over 20, she adds.

Krempien guided her through the ins and out of wheelchair basketball and would often plough a path through their opponents so Peers could shoot. They called Krempien "Goose," so Peers became "Gosling." (She prefers "Doc," she says later.)

But the most important lesson Peers learned came in her first meeting with Krempien. They were talking with their coach, Peers says, when Krempien intentionally fell over in her wheelchair. The rest of the team ignored her as she struggles to get up. After 15 minutes, Peers wondered if she should help. Eventually, Krempien got up, only to flop over again.

Peers asked her why she did that. "She said, 'Even the best fall down, but only the very best get back up.'"

Lots of people set goals, she says after the speech, but many fall short of them. "In my experience the big thing is how you react to that experience," she says.

Her team lost the gold to the U.S. for the first time in three years at the 2004 Paralympic Games, but was able to bounce back and take bronze that year and reclaim the gold this summer.

"Life is about overcoming obstacles," Peers says to the students. "People don't play sports to overcome obstacles, they play because of the obstacles." In other words, to try, fall, and try again.

"I want you guys to remember that's where the fun is, that's where the game is."

Peers' next tournament is in Leduc on Oct. 21.

kma@stalbert.greatwest.ca

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