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On 21 November 1990, Bill Irwin became the first-ever blind man to complete the hike through the Appalachian Trail, which took him a whopping eight months!
Reference: Terry Thompson, Climbing With Ability, (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2007, from http://gorp.away.com/gorp/activity/climb/ability.htm
The Disabled Sports USA, a national non-profit organization, was founded by disabled Vietnam veterans to serve those injured from war.
Reference: About Disabled Sports USA, (n.d.) Retrieved March 17, 2007 from http://www.dsusa.org/about-overview.html
On 31 August 2005, 32-year-old athlete Sergey Burlakov became the first man to fly an aircraft without arms or legs.
Reference: Disabled sportsman flies an aircraft, (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2007, from http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/361/16080_disabled.html
Tom Whittaker was the first-ever amputee to climb the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, on 27 May 1998.
Reference: A Foot Print of Everest, (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2007, from http://www.tomwhittaker.org/evstory.html
Wheelchair rugby, originally known as Murderball, was invented in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to be a sport for quadriplegics. It was intended to be an alternative to wheelchair basketball.
Reference: Wheelchair rugby, (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelchair_rugby
Currently, New Zealand is ranked first on the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) World Rankings.
Reference: IWRF World Rankings, As of September 16, 2006, (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2007, from http://www.iwrf.com/
Blind golf was first recorded to be played in the 1920s in the USA by Clint Russell of Duluth, Minnesota. In blind golf, the only modifications from the standard rules of golf includes having a sighted coach, and blind or partially sighted golfers are allowed to ground their club in a hazard.
Reference: Blind golf, (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_golf
The first hole-in-one recorded by a blind or visually impaired golfer in a National Open was scored on September 15, 2004 by Jan Dinsdale, a B2 lady from Northern Ireland.
Reference: Blind golf, (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_golf
Wheelchair Dance Sport is a dance competition involving one or both dance partners competing on a wheelchair. The first international competition in Wheelchair Dance Sport took place in Sweden in 1977 and the first World Championships were organized in Japan in 1998.
Reference: Wheelchair Dance Sport, (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2007, from
http://www.paralympic.org/release/Summer_Sports/Wheelchair_Dance_Sport/