John Register: Sports and Kids Are His Life
By O&P EDGE Editorial Staff John Register has loved sports most of his life.
Growing up in Oakbrook, Illinois, on the west side of Chicago, his
favorite sport was baseball. During his freshman year in high
school, he faced his first athletic setback: the baseball coach
told him the team was chosen--and he wasn't on it. As it turned
out, it was baseball's loss and track and field's gain when John
made the varsity track team.
 Register went on to a stellar career at the
University of Arkansas on a half track-and-field and half music
scholarship. After graduating in 1988 with a degree in
communications, he joined the army to focus on track and field and
have a shot at the Olympics. With an interruption while he served
in the Gulf War, Register participated in the army's World Class
Athletes (WCA) program.
Injury Changes Life
Then his life suddenly changed. Preparing for a track meet to be
held the next day, he ran a heat of hurdles and landed badly on a
leg, severing the popliteal artery. The injury cut off circulation
in the leg, eventually leading to gangrene and amputation.
The grief for the loss struck John, as it does so many amputees.
"Who am I now?" he wondered. A turning point was reached. His wife
had just wheeled him outside to the playground where his son was
playing. He broke down in grief. His wife told him, "We're going to
get through this together." Says John, "This was a defining moment
for me. I was still a husband to my wife, a father to my son, a son
to my father. I realized that it was my attitude that would pull me
through."
After physical therapy in San Antonio, Texas, Register retired
from the army, and was hired back as a civilian sports specialist
with the WCA program. "This is where I learned the management of
sports programs and about the various sports," he says. Register
also became familiar with disabled sports organizations such as
Disabled Sports USA (DS/USA) and the Challenged Athletes Foundation
(CAF). He participated in the 1996 Paralympics as a swimmer.
Paradigm Shifts
Says John, "I had two paradigm shifts at this point in my life,
learning what was possible from people with disabilities and how
our personal attitude about things affects outcomes." The first
shift came from Gong Baoren of the People's Republic of China.
Remembers John, "He was an armless swimmer who used his head on the
turnarounds to push off the wall. He had finished far ahead of the
heat, and the rules say you must maintain your lane while the rest
of the heat finishes the race. His legs began to cramp, and since
he doesn't have any arms, he couldn't stay above the water and kept
going under. One of the judges had to hold him up while the heat
finished. I remember the crowd making this sound doing head
knocking in support of Gong. He was awesome! Here this world-record
swimmer sacrificed so much of himself to win a gold medal and
achieve his goal."
John feels there is a metaphor for everyone in this story: We
can set a standard by which we can measure ourselves in any aspect
of life. "We give to the degree that we are satisfied with what we
achieved."
The second shift came from John Landis in the long jump. "He was
an above-knee amputee like me," Register explains. "He jumped, and
his prosthesis came flying off and landed in the sand ahead of him.
The crowd went wild! He looked at the judge and asked, Where will
we measure from? Here where I am or up there where my leg is?'
Everyone laughed. From this experience, a seed was planted. If he
can do this and find the humor in moments like that, then I can do
this."
 Register then entered track and field events again
and became involved in DS/USA and Ohio Willow Wood, Mt. Sterling,
Ohio. "I was recruited to test products when the Pathfinder" was
under development," remembers John. "This gave me a whole new
perspective on the O&P industry and product development. The
difference between OWW and the other companies was that OWW
accepted me into their family, recognizing and accepting that their
product was not good for my track and field events. To them, it
didn't matter. What mattered was my successful rehabilitation,
which came through sports. This is very much the same way I
approach my work in the Paralympic Academy today."
Register's athletic career continued to soar: in 1999, he held
the American record in the long jump; in 2000, he won a silver
medal in the Sydney, Australia, Paralympics, just 4.5 inches shy of
the gold.
Disabled Sports Funding: A Gap
"Our government spends $6 billion dollars on rehabilitation,
while on sports programs for the disabled we spend only $5 million,
a huge discrepancy," Register points out. "We see what Paralympic
sports can do for the disabled. We--our country--seems to want the
disabled to stay home--not get out and live and be productive
members of society and taxpayers. Our perceptions and stereotypes
serve to keep people in boxes where we expect them to stay."
Disabled Sports Changes Perceptions
Register then became manager of the Paralympic Academy, a
network of state initiatives across the nation. "I make calls to
establish networks among organizations, trying to bring them to the
same table. We need to pool our resources to make a stronger voice,
then take those numbers to Congress, and show them that a child
that has come to the Paralympic Academy has made his state team,
and then his national team, and then the Paralympic team." And
these disabled persons often obtain productive jobs, Register
points out. Register sees a need to "prove we need to increase
funding for disabled sports programs because it impacts the
disabled--because it shows them what is possible."
Disabled sports make a positive impact on the public's
perception of disability. Register remembers talking to a woman
stationed at the VIP area gate at the Paralympics in Athens. "She
commented on how having the Games in Greece changed the perception
and attitudes of the Greeks about people with disabilities.
Apparently, the disabled there never go outside; there aren't many
accommodations for the disabled; most handicapped parking signs are
ignored; and when there are curb cutouts, most people park in front
of them, because their perception is that the disabled don't come
out. It's a different mentality.
"You could see the growth of the cause daily, though, in Greece,
as more and more people came to marvel at the abilities of the
athletes as news spread by word of mouth and the newspapers and
other media," Register continues. "School children came in
droves."
Can US Improve?
"The US is still the most advanced country in accepting
disabilities," Register says. However, the US could improve, he
asserts. "We don't educate enough on disability. Rather than keep
kids in PE class, teachers send them to the computer lab and they
get no exercise. Why not put wheelchairs in the schools and have a
couple days a week that everyone plays wheelchair basketball or
soccer so all the kids can learn? Include the disabled child and
let him shine for a moment. What comes from this experience is that
kids, a school, a nation, can witness that I can follow the
leadership of a person even though he/she doesn't look like me or
walk like me.' It opens up the mindset."
Register also advises disabled persons: "Get involved; don't
just seek out organizations that are for physical disabilities;
seek out organizations that have what you want to do. Don't limit
yourself. If you want to participate in PE class--go with an
advocate and participate. Make the educators think outside the box
on how they can include you in each activity."
O&P Can Make an Impact
Register also encourages the O&P industry to help: "Find out
who your state agencies are that are associated with the Paralympic
Academy. For those states that don't have one yet, please contact me
so we can work to establish and include your state in the network."
Register has a lofty goal: he wants to build quality programs in
all 50 states, "so when a kid or parent visits the Paralympic
Academy website , they have a point of contact for their state
where programs exist and/or they can establish programs with
schools and hospitals in local areas." 
Table Of Contents - December 2004
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