Disabled students as black belts

[Steve]

That leads to sandbagging IMO. Don't try hard, then slowly ramp up a little.

I joined the military after high school, and I found out one guy was a competitive 10 km runner. I was surprised because he would only finish slightly ahead of me, and I had never really trained. He said, "oh, I don't try. So long as I come in first, they can't say anything. If I were to try, it would ruin my real workout in the evening with the track club." Sandbagging in action!

Hey, i just realized I never responded to this. Sandbagging... couple of interesting things.

First is, if the standard is clear and consistent, does it matter by how much it is exceeded? In this context, you either can or you cannot. So, one guy works hard and barely meets the standard. Another guy barely tries at all and blows the standard away. Is that important? Not particularly. If the standard truly reflects the expectation than, knowing that everyone is different, it will be harder or easier for different people to meet that standard. Using the car analogy again, it's very possible for a guy without arms to drive, but dang it takes a LOT of practice, desire and focus. Even people with full use of two arms and legs will vary in skill and potential. Not everyone can be a stunt driver or drive a race car. Some people just can.

Second, I'm not suggesting that sandbagging is okay. I'm just saying it's not a standards/expectations issue. Rather, it's a motivation and initiative concern. How do you take someone for whom the standards are easily met and motivate them to excel? Well, that's a completely different, complex and nuanced topic.

 

[Dirty Dog]

belts should be based off of ability. If they are not they lose their meaning. It leads to more and more exceptions and weak black belts until almost everyone will get one. I have seen it happen before. It gives taekwondo a bad name. That being said I know of disabled people who deserve their black belts. But if you wouldn't have given them a black belt if you didn't know they were disabled then you should not change your Standerds. What if jobs started promoting people because they were disabled?

If rank were nothing more than physical ability, you might have a point.
It's not.
I'm not as fast or flexible as I was in my 20's. But I don't think I'll be returning my belt any time soon, nor do I think the people I teach would expect me to.

 

[Buka]

Going back toPuunui's posts from 2012 - I trained at Relson's school in Honolulu, too. It had the same standards I've seen from other schools of the same family lineage.

As for belts being taken away for any reason - good luck with that plan. My guess is that everyone here earned every sweat stained stitch of their belt.

A belt is the same as reaching a certain age. You ain't ever going to get any younger.

 

[Metal]

Nowadays whenever the question "Who gave that person a black belt?" comes to my mind it's immediately followed by "Who am I to judge?".

The older I get the less the "Who gave that person a black belt?" comes up though.

 

[tshadowchaser]

I admit to not going back and rereading this whole thread but going on the OP only I would have to say as others have said it depends.
A totally blind person most likely would not attained a black belt in the system II am in because they would not be able to successfully pass on some of the information that is needed to be seen to understand. While a person with poor eyesight might because they can see enough to know what is happening in the movement or sequence.
I at this time have a couple people in class who mentally will will never be able to remember all that is needed for the test and most certainly would never be able to pass on that information, while a couple others have learning problems but could over time and maybe with the correct meds pass the test
What I am trying to say is there are different degrees of disabilities and the severity of those disabilities makes on difference on what a person is able to accomplish in the arts depending on what is required within a system
No matter what the disability martial arts may help a person in some way and most disabilities are not a reason to say a person can not study an art to the best of their ability , be it small or large

 

[IcemanSK]

I admit to not going back and rereading this whole thread but going on the OP only I would have to say as others have said it depends.
A totally blind person most likely would not attained a black belt in the system II am in because they would not be able to successfully pass on some of the information that is needed to be seen to understand. While a person with poor eyesight might because they can see enough to know what is happening in the movement or sequence.
I at this time have a couple people in class who mentally will will never be able to remember all that is needed for the test and most certainly would never be able to pass on that information, while a couple others have learning problems but could over time and maybe with the correct meds pass the test
What I am trying to say is there are different degrees of disabilities and the severity of those disabilities makes on difference on what a person is able to accomplish in the arts depending on what is required within a system
No matter what the disability martial arts may help a person in some way and most disabilities are not a reason to say a person can not study an art to the best of their ability , be it small or large

You bring up a great point about the type of disability and the degree of disability. There are large ranges within many disability categories. There are no "one-size fits all" designation with any disabling conditions.