Girl Turns Disability into Swimming Asset

posted on Jun 01 by Admin in the Disability News, Paralympics category

Hannah Aspden is a spunky 10-year-old girl. A tall and athletic blonde with blue eyes, you would never guess that she was born with only one leg, if you didn’t see it. Recently returning from her first international swimming competition, Hannah uses the balance, upper body, and core strength she has gained from spending her life hopping, walking with crutches, and wearing a prosthetic leg to her advantage in competitive swimming.

Hannah’s parents, TJ and Jennifer Aspden, say their daughter was born with a physical disability called hip disarticulation, meaning she was born without a left leg. They decided from the beginning that Hannah would be raised with every opportunity to succeed and be independent. Although information was hard to find about Hannah’s disability, her parents finally relaxed on how it would affect her quality of life once she began to try and crawl out of her crib.

Despite being discouraged by doctors, once Hannah began pulling herself up on tables and couches, a prosthetic leg was fitted and Hannah immediately mastered the device. From there, Hannah showed no fear on new tasks. Her love of swimming began when she followed her brother off the diving board into a neighborhood pool when she was only 4 years old.

“Compared to other 10-year-olds, Hannah is a very good swimmer,” said Patrick Curran, her coach with the YMCA of the Triangle Swim Team. “She’s fully confident that she can compete on the same level as her peers. She is starting to see herself as an international athlete.”

Hannah recently returned from the 2011 Spring Nationals and Can-Am Meet for the US Paralympics, where she was the youngest swimmer to ever compete and marked the first time Hannah had been exposed to other athletes with disabilities.

“It was cool. Everyone had something different, but we didn’t see each other for their disabilities, because everyone was like that,” Hannah said. “I saw how others deal with their challenges and saw that they were all just glad to be there and happy.”

Hannah prefers walking with crutches or hopping, but sometimes uses a prosthetic leg. She is just as active as any other 10-year-old girl, playing soccer, climbing monkey bars, and even roller skating with the use of crutches to catapult her around the rink. She plans on tackling track and field next, convinced she can find a way to master the hurdles.

“If I run into a problem, I just keep trying different solutions until I find one that works for me,” Hannah asserted.

Source:http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/05/03/1171224/young-swimmers-disability-is-her.html