Media Advisory: UB students to lead demonstrations at Adaptive Recreation Expo this weekend

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Students from the Department of Rehabilitation Science in the University at Buffalo’s School of Public Health and Health Professions will show how specially designed equipment can help people with disabilities participate in sports and recreational activities at this weekend’s WNY Adaptive Recreation Expo in Hamburg.

The free event is geared toward community members, students and health care professionals interested in learning about, and participating in, adaptive sports.

Attendees will be able to test out a variety of adaptive sports equipment, such as sit-skis and racing wheelchairs, as well as participate in adaptive yoga and wheelchair basketball, rugby and lacrosse. There will also be a wheelchair skills, assessment and mobility clinic — complete with a wheelchair obstacle course.

A number of area recreational organizations, including event sponsor WNY Adaptive Water Sports, along with the WNY Wreckers quad rugby team and Buffalo Bandits Wheelchair Lacrosse team, will be on hand as well.

Panel sessions throughout the day will focus on caregivers, athletes and coaches sharing firsthand experiences with adaptive sports, and how to join adaptive recreation organizations in Western New York.

Eight physical therapy doctoral students from UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions worked with event organizers, including WNY Adaptive Water Sports’ Steve Spitz and Luther Vuccic, to plan this year’s event. Sue Ann Sisto, chair of UB’s Department of Rehabilitation Science, and Jeanne Langan, an assistant professor in the department, also assisted.

Who: UB physical therapy doctoral students and members of adaptive sports teams and organizations in Western New York.

What: WNY Adaptive Recreation Expo

When: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22

Where: 4540 Southwestern Blvd., Hamburg, NY 14075