Adaptive Fair aims to engage disabled Recreation events planned in Bangor

BANGOR – Maybe you can beat Wanda Caron around an obstacle course in a wheelchair.

But think twice before challenging her 20-year-old daughter, Catherine Jalbert, who uses a wheelchair full time and just took up wheelchair basketball this spring. She’s fast.

Caron hopes that lots of people with disabilities, their family members and the rest of the world, for that matter, will turn out for the first Adaptive Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, in the parking lot at Alpha One, 1048 Union St.

“We want people to get involved with recreation,” Caron said, “so we’re going to encourage them to come play with us – to find that self-esteem and confidence people get when they get out of their comfort zone and play hard.”

Those who attend will find other wheelchair basketball players, sled-hockey athletes, road racers, downhill skiers – Jalbert does that, too – and even golfers such as Mike Noyes, who convinced Bangor Municipal Golf Course to obtain an adaptive cart for use by people with disabilities.

Not that the day is all about sports. Many of the vendors displaying products or services, even service dogs, focus on helping those with disabilities just cope with life.

The iBOT will be on hand, and BAT will have a bus there.

A representative of Orono Bog Boardwalk will explain how the facility is built to accommodate those with handicaps as well as the able-bodied.

Other vendors taking part include Maine Handicapped Skiing, Ambassador Assistance Animals International, Main One Travel, Renegade, Alpha One and Alpha One Medical, Central Maine Golf Carts, Rideaway, Maine Action Coalition, TEC Center, Autotronics, Paralyzed Veterans of America, MacLin, DASH, Maine Accessibility Corp. and Lowell Cooley Jr.

Information will be available on various equipment, and refreshments will be available for purchase.

The Road to Freedom is planning to bring its 37-foot bus to the event to raise awareness about the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Jalbert, Noyes and Seth Reardon all took part in wheelchairs on Sunday in the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure in Bangor. And they finished all 3.1 miles of the route.

“I feel more adventurous now than before,” said Jalbert, who has spina bifida. She started college this fall at Eastern Maine Community College and eventually plans to work as an occupational therapist.

Caron hopes that the Adaptive Fair will help others with disabilities start on the road to doing things that help them feel adventurous, too.

The fair is sponsored by the Physical Disabilities Support Group and Alpha One. The support group meets 5:30-7:30 p.m. the first Thursday of the month at Alpha One. All are welcome.