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Why I don’t need to skydive

Nov 13 06:24

While some super energetic gimps are eager to do as many crazy things as possible, to either prove to themselves or to the world that they are “HELL NO” not defined by their disability, as for me and my near-death experience when I broke my neck, I think I’ve had enough excitement for a lifetime.

No thanks, not interested in putting myself in a situation where death could occur because of the tiniest mistake (that means no, I will not bungee jump in my wheelchair off a bridge).

The risk-taker gimps will pretty much do anything for an adrenaline rush. Strap them to a rocket, and they’ll go for it. All they need are some willing able-bodied people to be their partners in crime, and they’ll get themselves into as many “impressive” extreme situations as possible. And surprisingly, its not all that hard to find Abs who are able to get over the discomfort of possibly “hurting us” and turning into someone who has no problem tossing us out of a plane.

The extreme sports I’ve seen gimps get into range from the well-known to the bizarre. You have your skydiving opportunities of course (read a blog about a man with MS who went skydiving), your mountain climbing opportunities - where you either get yourself in a rolling cart and do all the work yourself or you find yourself a team of grunts to pull you up a mountain. The latter may not be not as impressive, but to even allow yourself to get that high up on a mountain is incredibly ballsy. And you have your surfing (on your belly), motocross, skateboarding, kayaking, mountain biking, downhill skiing, waterskiing, white water rafting, and racing.

The news of course loves extreme gimps and will always cover these guys whenever they possibly can. Just like MTV’S Jackass proves, the world loves watching, or even hearing about, people doing crazy stuff. And while I personally have no interest in going extreme, gimps doing extreme things most likely does help change SOME people’s perceptions. I’ll just leave that up to the extreme folks of the world.

Would you try an “extreme“ sport?

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By Tiffiny Carlson

Tiffiny Carlson Disability buzz, travel, fashion and dating — fun things to amp up everyday wheeling life.

Tiffiny Carlson is freelance writer and writes the “SCI Life” column for New Mobility. She's also a C6 quad from a diving accident that occurred when she was 14 years old. A lifelong resident of Minneapolis, Tiffiny has been a writer in the disability community for over 10 years and writes for several publications and blogs, as well as her personal blog BeautyAbility. Her work has also appeared in mainstream publications such as Nerve.com and Playgirl.