Hello, this is my first post here. i just have a random question for all teachers. would any of you teach or consider teaching someone who is in a wheelchair. i know several people in wheelchairs, and was just wondering what your thoughts are. please be 100 percent honest because if you say yes, but you really would not then i dont get an accurate sense of how things really are and vise versa. thanks for the answers.
Question to all instructors, sensei, sifus ect.
- Thread starter ccr
- Start date
shihansmurf
Black Belt
I would certainly be willing to give it a shot. I would have to modify the material to work for the individual but I'd try.
Mark
Mark
I'm not an instructor, however there is a group in the Boston area that specializes in teaching self-defense to people that are more at risk.
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I probably wouldn't accept a wheelchair bound student. I just don't know how to adapt my art to them. Someone else may be able to; I don't know.
Note, though, that this is a far cry from saying that they shouldn't try martial arts or be taught self defense!
Note, though, that this is a far cry from saying that they shouldn't try martial arts or be taught self defense!
Ditto jks's thoughts & reasoning. It'd be dishonest of me to say otherwise.
I have tought only one in the past and he was one of my best students. Learned everything and knew how to adapt to stituation, would I again depends on the student and what they was looking for.
Let me answer in a different way, by the style.
TKD=No. I would be trying to modify a kicking based style for a chair and I am not sure I could do it.
Chito-ryu and Isshinryu=Yes. I have been training in them long enough to be able to modify them and they are not kicking based styles.
Kenpo=Yes. But I just got back into training in EPAK and I am not at a point to teach it yet. IMO, it would be very easy to modify this style for a chair.
Boxing=Yes. Outside of movement and a bit of power loss for lack of hip movement, it could be shaped to an individual who is in a chair.
This is my position by style, hope it helps out.
TKD=No. I would be trying to modify a kicking based style for a chair and I am not sure I could do it.
Chito-ryu and Isshinryu=Yes. I have been training in them long enough to be able to modify them and they are not kicking based styles.
Kenpo=Yes. But I just got back into training in EPAK and I am not at a point to teach it yet. IMO, it would be very easy to modify this style for a chair.
Boxing=Yes. Outside of movement and a bit of power loss for lack of hip movement, it could be shaped to an individual who is in a chair.
This is my position by style, hope it helps out.
I would do my best, yes.
My Maternal Grand Father was in a wheel chair my whole life until he died a few years ago.
He used a cane to help him pull things closer to him, and also to Poke and pick things up.
He carried a knife to cut open things etcetera for other reasons to have a knife on your during normal daily operations.
He also got a carried concealed permit for the state of New York, and would carry when he went off his property.
Not only did my grand father still work wood and other takss around a farm, he also worked the parallel bars to make sure his upper body was still strong.
He would have been a great person for me to have worked with for FMA and the tools they have at their disposal to teach with.
I recently went to the Dragon's Tail in Tenn/NC and I talked to a man who had his chair on the back of his Spider (* a three wheeled motor cycle, with two wheels up front and one in the back *), and he had created the device to hold it himself. He was very adaptable as was my grand father.
It depends upon how you feel and if you think you have something to offer the prospective student(s).
Well first off, welcome! Very interesting post. Now to your question. Heck yes, I'd give it a shot. If somebody in a wheelchair has enough motivation and desire to try martial arts, of course I'd work with them. Now I haven't taught martial arts publicly for a long time. So when I do teach, it's not about money, anyway. A commercial teacher might have some concerns about how to work with "disabled" students in a large group. But it can be done.
My arts are Wing Tsun and Escrima. I've taught Wing Tsun successfully to visually impaired students, since that art depends so heavily on "feel". In this case, I think I'd recommend the Escrima. Training begins with a stick or baston, and that really extends your reach from a sitting position. Later I'd work the student on transitioning to empty hands and improvised weapons, which can even be parts of the wheelchair if it has any removable parts ...such as armrests, etc.
Anyway, if anybody is curious about this, look on youtube for clips of Ethan Ruby, a student of Latosa Escrima Concepts who is paralyzed from the chest down. I believe he is a student of Edgar Rotger in NYC.
- Thread Starter
- #12
well, i have a little confession to make. i myself am actually in a wheelchair. im 15 and have been studying for about 7 months. my current style is shaolin chuan fa in chinese, and shaolin kempo in japanese. heres some links to me demonstrating some of the few skills ive learned.
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- Thread Starter
- #13
as you all will also see i have a disability that makes my arms unable to bend and are externally rotated at the shoulder. so ive had to make quite a few adaptations and all my forms are self made to fit my disability
Omar B
Senior Master
It's an interesting question. One of my two best friends is in a wheelchair and I've offered to show him a thing or two. His answer is "When I'm out I'm always with you or Mike so I've got all the muscle I need." Never fails to get a laugh out of me.
Of course I would and I have. Being a Ju-Jitsu style I could adapt our techniques to a person in a wheelchair quite easily. If you think about it, they have a advantage....the attacker will be a little less guarded with a person in that situation.... underestimating their opponent.
Michael
Michael
Brian S
Purple Belt
I would give it my best shot!
I have trained in the past with some wheel chair martial practitioner's and they were all good and practiced hard.
No: I am completely unqualified to do so.
I would likely try to find a qualified instructor for the student who can work with the peculiarities of being in a wheelchair.
There are so many areas other than just execution of hand techniques that I would have no effective means of translating to a wheelchair bound student. Footwork would be completely different, due to the fact that the student is using wheels instead of feet.
Dynamics will be different too depending upon the chair. If it is a powered chair, the student has a lot more flexibility, as pointing the lever makes the chair go where you want it. A hand operated chair requires both hands to maintain a straight line and to make directional changes.
I have no idea how to address such considerations.
Daniel
I would tell them what they'd be able to achieve with my art and what they wouldn't be able to utilise. And I'd tell them my experience teaching people in wheelchairs (none). If they still really wanted to do it, then I'd give it my best shot.
