Students at Texas A&M University-Commerce got to experience part of what it means to be disabled when they took part in Goal Ball on Oct. 12.
Goal ball is a game that is played in the paralympics for visually impaired athletes. It consists of three players on each side of a court all blindfolded and tasked with maneuvering a ball by using their sense of sound. It’s a game that makes people have to use their senses in ways that are usual to them.
Rebecca Tuerk, coordinator of Student Disability Resources and Services, which sponsored Goal Ball as part of their Fourth Annual Disability Week, said the event was designed to give students a different prespective.
“This event gives students a better sense of awareness and appreciation for the senses we have,” she said.
The students who participated in the activities were taken by surprise because of how limited they were when one of their key senses was taken away.
“It’s different playing a game not being able to see, it defiantly forces you to use your sense of hearing more because you vision has been abruptly taken away,” Clayton Giddens, a student here at A&M-Commerce said.
Some people had a hard time participating in the activities.
“Not being able to use your eyes makes it hard to think,” A&M-Commerce student Trey Bowers said.
Others who participated gained an enormous amount of respect for visually impaired citizens because for only five minutes they went through something that they go through in a lifetime.
“After this event people should have a great respect for disabled people because they endure things we couldn’t even imagine,” student Gabriel Ramirez said.