As a member of the able-bodied community, I admit I do not know much about the accessibility or inaccessibility of Milwaukee to members of the disabled community. However, this past Saturday, I, and several other Highlanders, were able to gain invaluable experience and awareness of the challenges people with disabilities face and conquer every day.

Through the involvement of the father of one of our teammates, most of the Lakeshore Lightning and I drove down to the outdoor skating rink at Red Arrow Park in Milwaukee to be a part of the Ramp Up MKE movement.

Ramp Up MKE, a movement designed to further the cause of the upcoming Ability Center, has held events to make iconic places in Milwaukee more accessible for the disabled population. According to rampupmke.org, the Ability Center is a “universally designed athletic and recreation facility for those impacted by disabilities but inclusive of the able-bodied public. In collaboration with our community, we will: support people impacted by disabilities, daily; promote wellness; and aid in rehabilitation.”

The design and construction of the Ability Center is still in the works, but once completed it will offer a place for people with and without disabilities to stay active in an accessible, judgement-free area. In August of 2015, Ramp Up MKE hosted a party at Bradford Beach, debuting the potential beach accessible wheelchairs, which raised the funds necessary to purchase and keep the chairs, which anybody can use. They are permanently a part of Bradford Beach and sport larger, mountain-bike like tires for easy passage across sand.

The Ability Center and Ramp Up MKE again partnered with Milwaukee County Parks to bring the Red Arrow skating event to life. On site were several sleds for those who cannot skate on their feet, which anybody could try out. The goal was to raise $3,000 for three sleds to permanently stay at the Slice of Ice at Red Arrow Park, and as of today, Feb. 10, the campaign has raised $3,077.

As hockey players, we certainly identified with the cause, but as players holding minimal experience with sled hockey, we saw how hockey is greater than ourselves, greater than our team, and greater even than the state and nation-wide hockey community. While gliding around the rink, we met a seventh-grade girl, Gabbi, who plays sled hockey for the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association (GLASA) Falcons in Illinois. “This experience made me realize how strong you can be and I feel lucky meeting Gabbi because she is a motivation for me with hockey and other things in my life,” Paige Weir, freshman, said.

“It was very inspiring and I felt humbled after the experience. I am happy I met Gabbi, for I loved the way she was very positive and how she was very happy just to be on the ice,” Lindsey Schimpf, freshman, said. “After trying the sled, I was very fortunate for my abilities, and I have a lot of respect for Gabbi because she does it every day and it was difficult.”

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Submitted photo

Gabbi (middle) showed me and a couple of the girls on the Lightning how to get around the rink quickly using the spiked ends of the sticks. The task proved very difficult, especially turning without falling over, yet Gabbi confidently skated circles around us as we clumsily toppled over again and again.

We felt a bond with Gabbi, and even though we lead very different lives, we shared a surprising amount of similarities. The most prominent is our love for hockey. The hockey Gabbi plays looks different from the hockey that we play, but it is still hockey nonetheless.

That realization made me think about my sheltered perspective of abilities. The lives that people with disabilities lead may look a little different from those without, but they are lives nonetheless. Lives filled with the same wonderful moments mine has, the same activities I enjoy, the same stress about school, college, jobs, etc, but most importantly, the same human experience.

Alex Buchanan, sophomore, summed up, “Gabbi has inspired me to not let obstacles stand in my way of doing things I enjoy.” Even an obstacle as daunting as a physical, cognitive, or sensory impairment can be conquerable, as Gabbi and the rest of the people with disabilities proved this weekend and continue to prove every day.

The short video below shows some scenes of us skating with Gabbi.