Society is slowly becoming more open to their disabled citizens. Society is implanting more accommodations for people with a disability, and with these accommodations comes a new normal.
The Miracle League is an organization which removes the barriers preventing children and adults with a disability from playing baseball. People can bring these fields to their own communities. With a rubberized turf field, which accommodates wheelchairs and crutches, and subsequently prevents injuries, a person with a disability is given the opportunity they never had before: a chance to play baseball.
Debbie Taylor is the driving force behind this movement. Taylor was inspired by her son who loves baseball, and as a parent wanted her son to feel like a part of something. She and her family dreamed of a place where people with a disability felt important, able and included. Thus, when it came time to name the park, they chose Field of Dreams, because the park is their dream becoming reality.
“I hope that it gives the people with special needs a place to feel accepted and at home,” Taylor said. “I hope it helps the community to accept our people and make them apart of everyday life.”
Field of Dreams will be located in Propst Park in Columbus, among the other baseball fields. Taylor believes the field will not only make people with a disability feel more comfortable and confident, but being a part of the other diamonds, they will feel connected to their peers.
Martha Phillips has watched her son David play baseball with the special league in Columbus for over 20 years. Before this league, David would watch his older brother play sports from the bleachers, never being able to be a part of it himself. When he joined the league in Columbus, his life was changed.
“He actually heard people for the first time cheering for him. It was wonderful,” Phillips said. “There is really no way to put into words how much it helped him.”
Phillips said most of these children with a disability, especially those with siblings, only get to watch their siblings play sports while they sit there. It is life-changing for them to be able to be a part of it for themselves, and be like everyone else. She hopes this new field will change the community and how they view those with a disability.
Instead of a community where people with a disability are ignored and people are unsure how to accommodate to them, Places like Field of Dreams help to educate the public on how to deal and create change benefitting those with different disabilities.
Meredith Weeks found out about Field of Dreams through Debbie Taylor, who is a client at the salon she works at.
Weeks has a son named Ethan who is seven and has down syndrome. She said not only would Ethan’s participation in baseball help his physical therapy, but it would also highly benefit his social activity.
Weeks believes it will be beneficial for her son, because he will not only be around with other people with a disability, but also other children and adults who do not have a disability.
The Field of Dreams gives the community a chance to socialize together, both the citizens with a disability and those without. The field will also provide people a chance to work with children and adults with a disability outside of a classroom setting.
Construction on the Field of Dreams started this past summer and is expected to open in April 2018.