Surfers often make catching a wave on a super gnarly day just look like second nature.
Climbers taking on some of the most daunting cliffs make it look so simple that they could do it blindfolded. And then there’s climbers who are legally blind and use all their other senses to ascent some of the most difficult climbs, and leave everyone around staring in awe.
On Feb. 11, Tripp Clemens, Will Humphrey and Zach Bastian, three members of the four-man team with Harvey Burrell, came to UCF for the screening of their documentary “Endless Abilities.” UCF Housing, Student Disabilities Services, Sporting clubs, the Multicultural Student Center and the Office of Diversity sponsored the event. The movie showcased the world of adaptive sports and highlighted Paralympic athletes, and rehabilitation patients that they met on their 7,000 mile journey. These individuals were swimmers with muscular dystrophy training for the Paralympics, climbers who are legally blind, and quadriplegic soccer players and the four friends sought to tell their stories.
Bastian got in a dirt bike accident when he was in high school and lost most of his legs’ mobility. After six months, doctors told him that he’d probably be in a wheelchair for life. He said that his friends and family helped him come to accept his disability and move forward.
“Knowing that yeah I lost half my body, but I didn’t lose my friends, that’s what kind of got me through,” Bastian said.
Growing up in a coastal town in Rhode Island, his friends were all sailors and surfers so there wasn’t any question about leaving that part of him on hold. Inspired by them and Jesse Billauer, a paraplegic surfer, Bastian dove back in. And he brought three new friends with him.
Clemens, Humphrey, and Burrell are childhood friends and met Bastian in 2010. After filming him surfing, they realized they wanted to do more. Thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Hartford Insurance Company in Connecticut, and $30,000 raised on Kick Starter, the Endless Abilities team’s dream was beginning to look possible. In the summer of 2012, the four friends drove cross-country searching for adaptive sports for people with physical disabilities and told their stories in a documentary film.
“The project became much bigger than us. People were calling us saying ‘We really want to be a part of what you’re doing,’” Bastian said.
People reached out to them and asked them to connect along the way.
“The other half of the stops were done through our sponsor, Disabled Sports USA,” Humphrey said.
During the road trip, Humphrey, Clemens, and Burrell experienced what Bastian’s daily life is like.
“You get to really understand what someone’s going through in their shoes, when they’re in a wheelchair, when you live with them,” Clemens said. “I was learning to live with someone else’s abilities.”
Bastian said that some of his favorite parts of the trip were also the most unexpected. Although the four had been friends for about two years, they undoubtedly formed a special bond.
“People look at me like ‘He’s the man, he’s the voice,’ but I’m just happy to be a part of their film. These guys are incredible. They’re phenomenal,” Bastian said.
They said what is special about adaptive sports is that it is such an equalizer, making it a level playing field for everyone. They came back from the summer of their lives, but it didn’t end there.
“We have a deal with PBS and so starting this spring anyone can see the film on their local PBS station,” Humphrey said.
“Endless Abilities” has gained quite an audience on small and big screens. Movie theatres have screenings, and people can take the film and create a fundraising event for themselves with it. Spaulding hospital and Vanderbilt hospital are showing the film to individuals with physical disabilities. According to Clemens, that’s their ultimate audience.
“If we’re going to change, not just the three of us, but society as a whole, the way disabilities are perceived we really have to be not just in places where people with disabilities are like hospitals, we have to be in auditoriums like this and education facilities and change the culture,” Humphrey explained.
To keep the ball moving forward, they’ve created a film company called Windy Films, making short documentaries, based in Boston.
“Our second documentary film is following a couple and their work to have the world’s first complete malaria vaccine and it will take us to Africa in about a week and a half,” Clemens said.
The team will be in Equatorial Guinea for a few weeks. For anyone who missed the screening, “Endless Abilities” is available on DVD.
