Yesterday Rotary hosted the annual Interact Leadership Day at Centennial High School. Another of my "spare time activities" is helping with the Centennial Interact Club, a group of 50+ talented seniors dedicated to community service. And yesterday was designed to help the members learn a little about themselves, a little about their duties in the next school year, a little about leadership and elect new officers while we were at it. We always invite a few guest speakers, and yesterday we invited an old friend, Jean Driscoll.
I first met Jean about 20 years ago while I was working at the UI athletic dept. By the time I had met her she had won the Boston Marathon Women's Wheelchair race several times and was one of our most celebrated Champaign and UI residents. When I came to Champaign to go to college I was immediately struck by the the numbers of students in wheelchairs. There were ramps everywhere, curb cuts and even special buses to transport them. My friends and I snickered and made fun of all the wheelchair "junkies" all around, and frankly made no attempt to engage a single student. I don't recall that there were even disabled students in any of my classes. I had a mindset that if I engaged a disabled student I might "catch" what they have. Sad, but true.
So I finished school and went on to Detroit to work for P & G. I managed to "keep my record clean" in terms of meeting a single disabled person other to say "hello" if our eyes met on the streets. I moved back to Champaign after 4 years and still hadn't advanced my prejudice. Eventually I went to work for the athletic department and it was then I met Jean Driscoll.
In my mind she was different. She was clearly an athlete. Whatever she "had", she overcame it in my mind, and I wanted to meet her. Jean is a huge basketball fan, especially women's basketball, and it was at post game reception I met her for the first time.
Jean has a smile that truly warms a room. And from the minute you meet her you know this is a special person. Over the next few years we would say hello, exchange a few stories and she would update me on the latest training or event. There was nothing overly significant here, just casual chatter, but I came to begin to see her as a normal person.
When I went to work for Pepsi, our paths crossed again. Jean was a spokesperson for Ocean Spray and we distributed Ocean Spray juices. She was speaking at an event and I was invited to attend. And did. Again we exchanged greetings and caught up on what each was doing. But then I sat down and for the first time heard the "Jean Driscoll Story." What a story it is! She wasn't always in a wheelchair, but an illness eventually moved her there. It's an amazing story of how God closes one door and opens a window. And what a window it was that opened for her. A path that led her to a list of friends including Presidents, Kings, actors, athletes and virtually everyone you might read or hear about in People magazine.
Over the next few years I heard Jean speak several more times. By now our conversations were more substantial. I was deeply interested in her, in her exploits and travels. I began to see Jean the person and not Jean the wheelchair athlete. And I began to understand that in truth, I was the one who was disabled, not Jean.
You see Jean Driscoll lives by the principal that we all need to "Dream out Loud." We need to live our dreams, not store them in a box and feel sorry for ourselves because we never experienced them. And if we keep our dreams locked up, we are truly the ones who are disabled, because we will never come close to living up to our potential.
I truly began to see just how ignorant I had been and truly prejudiced concerning anyone with a disability. And I began to think about all the other wonderful people who had crossed my path over my life who I just looked over or past. Jean opened my eyes, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Today Jean works for the UI in the Applied Life Sciences department. She is a fund raiser for their foundation. I can't imagine a better ambassador. Who could say no to that smile!
She also is deeply devoted to helping the disabled citizens in Ghana live a normal life. In Ghana, the culture is such that the disabled are given a status slightly below dogs. A reluctant participant at first, Jean was invited to help host a wheelchair track camp in Ghana. When she arrived at the stadium she expected that the facilities would be poor and that the wheelchairs would be in need of repair. What she didn't expect where the people who came though the gates literally dragging themselves on the ground over several blocks to be a part of the camp.
6 years later Ghana is beginning to change their attitudes about the disabled, due largely to Jean's persistence. She has met with government officials, sport federation executives and literally anyone who would listen. Ghana has had entrants in the Para Olympic games for the first time, and plans to send a full team to London in 2012. She has helped to provide hundreds of wheelchairs, both of the race variety and everyday use. There is a disabled athlete training center in Ghana now. But more important, the athletes who she met 6 years ago are recognized as members of their families now. They don't eat on the floor with the dogs, they aren't hidden in the back room. Like me, the people of Ghana are recognizing their ignorance and beginning to understand that the "disabled" are not only people, but people with dreams and talent as well.
Jean says "I forget I am disabled. I live a normal life, drive my own car, shop at the grocery store, do everything everyone else does. Except I don't walk. Walking is overrated." There is nothing normal about Jean Driscoll.
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