Spirit of ADA Torch Relay Visits Olympic City

Salt Lake City, Utah (June 24, 2000) - The Spirit of ADA celebration in Salt Lake City, the sixth stop on the 8-week relay, brought together two sectors of the disability community: political advocates and athletes. In what was an abbreviated relay, eight-time Paralympic gold medallist Sarah Will passed the freedom flame to Utah Senator Orrin Hatch. Will received the torch from a cyclist representing the Journey of Hope, a cross-country bicycle trip to raise awareness and promote a better understanding of people with disabilities.

Hatch, along with Iowa senator Tom Harkin, were major figures in writing and sponsoring the Americans With Disabilities Act. Will plans on skiing in the 2002 Paralympics in Salt Lake City as part of t he U.S. Disabled Ski Team.

Will has visited several cities on the Spirit of ADA Relay route for AccessLife.com, a new disability website and a Relay sponsor. "Originally," she said, "I thought the advocacy and sports movements were different but I don't see it that way any more." She explained, "I see it as using sports and using athletes as advocates because we [athletes] represent the abilities of people with disabilities."

Will feels that athletes can play a major role by being a voice for the people who may not have as much ability. She believes "the people we see as being able to do so much is not who we need to represent. It's for the people who have less mobility that we need to make our world more accessible."

Will began skiing when she was four years old and has not missed a ski season since. In 1988 while free skiing in Aspen, she did an unintentional back flip off a work road and landed on her shoulder. As a consequence of the accident she broke her back at the L-1, T-12, resulting in paralysis from the waist down.

Following her accident, her brother, also a skier, brought her to Winter Park, Colorado home to the largest disabled skiing program in the world. Will said the first people she met with disabilities after her accident were the athletes at Winter Park. "That," she said "was a great place to learn about the new world."

Will visited Winter Park as the World Championships were in progress. It was being surrounded by athletes with, Will said, "their heads up high and fighting for the world title in their sport, and seeing the U.S. Disabled Ski Team with U.S.A across the back of their jackets, the same jacket that the U.S. Alpine Ski Team wears," that Will realized what she wanted.

"I wanted to be a part of the U.S. Ski Team before my accident and maybe I wasn't good enough to be there. And now I had a second chance," she said.

Will believes that she has a sense of responsibility with success as a Paralympian and gold medallist. "I can use that success to educate people about things far beyond sports and that's what I've learned," she said. Regarding the ADA Torch Relay, Will said, "I don't see a lot of superjock athletes out there. I see people who have been fighting for issues about work, about politics, about children, about education." Issues Will said that have become important to her. "I have my own personal torch to carry. If I can get the word out through learning about issues through other people I've met through the success I've had through sports that's great," she said.

In addition to training and skiing, Will is a sports writer for AccessLife.com.

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