| Wheel Man For Disabled Hunters
When President Bush appointed Graham Hill to the National
Council on Disability, he picked a man who knows firsthand how the
rewards of hunting can help disabled folks lead a better
life.
|
Graham Hill rides a
wheelchair to his hunting spots now, rolling out here for
a pheasant shoot with friend and ally Chris Cox,
Executive Director of NRA-ILA. The confidence and
friendship that come from hunting are values he`s
promoting in his service with the National Council on
Disability.
|
|
|
By John Zent, Editorial Director
You`d think as a Lone Star sage of sorts, Willie
would have known better than to write, "Mama, don`t let your babies
grow up to be cowboys." Like so many Texans I`ve known, Graham Hill
was born a cowboy--and then grew up to pursue another vocation.
Trained in the law, Hill`s range today is Capitol Hill in Washington
where he serves as counsel to the House Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure, chaired by Representative Don Young (R AK), who`s
also a member of the NRA Board of Directors.
But that`s only part of Hill`s Washington workday.
Shortly after another Texan arrived for duty in the nation`s
capital--President George W. Bush--he appointed Hill to serve
on the National Council on Disability. It was a good choice, in that
the president not only picked a behind-the-scenes leader he knew he
could trust, but also a man who must live with a tough disability
himself.
Graham doesn`t get to ride horses anymore because
of a tragic auto accident that left him a paraplegic. If you`ve seen
family pictures of him literally growing up in the saddle--as I
have--you figure that must be a terrible loss. But you sure don`t
get that sense from meeting him. The young lawyer is engaged, bright,
charismatic, proud. He`s got energy to spare. He`ll talk about his
work and dedication to making America a better place, about boyhood
adventures in Texas, and especially about how much he loves hunting
and the outdoors.
Having to get around in a wheelchair doesn`t keep
Graham out of deer stands or duck blinds, or, as I can attest, from
joining buddies for a driven pheasant shoot on a bitterly cold winter
day. In part this is true because of the remarkable friendships that
Graham enjoys. He hunts and shoots with a large group of terrific
friends he has had for years, in many cases, even decades. When he
talks about hunting, it is always in the context of adventures with
his friends and family.
And so despite the fact that the mercury barely
hit double digits, Graham and his partners, Chris Cox and David
Lehman from NRA`s Institute for Legislative Action, weren`t about to
get cheated on a rare afternoon away from the job. Their work often
keeps them in the halls of government, where the hours are long and
the stakes high--your rights and mine, in fact the freedoms all
American gun owners and hunters cherish. But this afternoon was
devoted to swinging shotguns and tracking bronze roosters across the
midwinter sky. Our group kept at it until sundown, and it was
fascinating to watch Graham pivot his chair with one hand while
pressing the buttstock to his shoulder with the other. He was so
intent on shooting the fast-flying birds he nearly tipped over at
times, but never appeared the least bit bothered by the risk. Like
all of his hunting partners, Graham has been close friends with Chris
and David for years. It is a friendship rooted in a common love of
hunting and the outdoors. Graham told me his hunting friends are his
closest of all friends because they ignore his disability.
"Chris and David don`t think at all of me as
someone in a wheelchair, they think of me as a hunting buddy, and
that is because of their character and our experiences together in
the outdoors."
Afterward I cornered the cowboy who grew up to be
an advocate for outdoorsmen.
AH: Tell us about your work with the National
Council on Disability.
Hill: My primary concern is in looking into the
biggest obstacles for the disabled. The biggest of all is
unemployment. We`re looking at estimates as high as around 75 percent
among disabled folks. In my opinion, that`s closely related to
transportation and mobility. On some level, disability basically
amounts to immobility.
The Clinton administration was working on things
that tended not to highlight what disabled folks were capable of
doing. I think it is critical for a disabled person to realize they
are more capable than they may think, and that they will never know
what they can do until they try.
Given the limited resources, a priority should be
to empower and inspire. When three-quarters of the 60 million
Americans who are disabled are out of work, I am concerned large
portions have given up trying. That`s a difference between my
approach and the historical approach of only helping the disabled
survive, as opposed to succeed. It`s also my goal to advance some of
the previous Council`s work on public lands` accessibility to the
disabled, particularly for hunting.
AH: Just what is the role of government in
providing hunting opportunities for the disabled?
Hill: Current law provides for equal access for
the disabled on federal lands, but the question of how well we`re
fulfilling that needs follow-up work from the Council. On the
positive side, current law has provided disabled veterans access to
military reservations and other federal lands. I think that`s an
excellent model to follow.
|
Hill grew up riding horses and hunting
with his dad. Despite the accident that left him without the
use of his legs, he remains devoted to outdoor
pursuits.
|
There are problems, however, with what the current
law sought to accomplish. Some advocacy groups complain that federal
officials are not always keeping open the roads and trails designated
for disabled access. In the end, government is not the solution. The
solution is bold attitude on the part of the disabled to get out of
the rut, and an interest by able-bodied hunters to find a disabled
partner.
AH: From someone who is disabled and now has a
life in public service, how would you encourage the disabled
non-hunter who might be interested in giving it a try?
Hill: That`s where the disabled are very
fortunate, because there are a number of exceptional organizations
out there that want to reach out and help. NRA has a fabulous
outreach program for disabled shooters (see below). Safari Club
International has made steps in that direction, and the National Wild
Turkey Federation`s Wheelin` Sportsmen is a very sophisticated and
effective support group. I think one thing the Council could do is
convene a forum to work with groups interested in helping toward the
same end, but who often pass each other in the night. If we could get
the public and private sectors matched up together, we might see a
lot more disabled persons experiencing the outdoors.
AH: How would you advise able-bodied hunters who
want to get involved?
Hill: Perhaps what`s missing is an understanding
about what a disabled person considers help, and what he considers
patronizing. The disabled know the difference when they see it. It`s
not just about helping them discover what it means to hunt on a
personal level for their achievement, but also to build the
friendships that everybody who hunts enjoys. If you want to get
involved, just take a disabled friend hunting. When you return,
you`ll think of him or her as hunting partner and friend, not a
disabled person.
AH: Were you at any point concerned that you would
no longer be able to hunt or that it would not be the same fulfilling
experience?
Hill: Within a day or two of my car accident in
January 1981, I can remember a conversation in the hospital with my
parents about going deep sea fishing that summer. For some reason, we
all just assumed that nothing was going to be different. We were
making plans about going deer hunting that fall. It`s not that they
ignored it, it`s that they made a deliberate decision that everything
else was going to stay the same. And I believed it. And it did. For
some reason I didn`t experience a long period of contemplation about
Why me? or What`s this mean?
When I went home from the hospital, nobody from my small town in
Texas seemed to think there was anything wrong with me doing
everything I had done before, so I didn`t either. We just did it.
Still went dove hunting. Still went deer hunting. Believe me, it`s a
little different event to climb up into a 10-foot stand from this
chair. But just three weeks ago I was back at our place deer hunting
morning and evening.
AH: How do you do that?
Hill: I just roll right up to the stand, grab the
rail, and take it one hand over another. If my partners don`t think
I`m making decent progress they`ll push me up from the
rear.
I still hunt with a group of fellows I`ve known
for for most of my life, my brother Greg and Cousin Howard. Together
we go out, and whatever challenge there may be to a particular place
I want to hunt, we come up with an idea. My dear friends Colin
Chapman and Mark Malone love to make a place work for me that looked
at first impossible; they and I are always dreaming up solutions to
terrain challenges. We set up my chair here, move some dirt around,
and it works. The self-confidence that comes from this kind of
activity is critical for a disabled person. Most importantly, the
friendships last a lifetime. Disabled folks too often lose sight of
what they can do and can`t do. The fact is, typically, they can do a
lot more than they give themselves the chance to do. Building
friendships, building confidence, figuring out how to help people
help you and how to help yourself--it`s a unique set of
ingredients and hunting has them all. There are not many other
activities where the disabled can share the same experiences and
stories as their friends. Just being in the outdoors has a very
powerful effect on a human being. Too few disabled folks get to get
out and see a sunset like we saw tonight, to feel the cold wind, to
look for birds getting up. They`re experiencing less in life than
they were meant to experience. But it doesn`t have to be that
way.
|
|
|
NRA Disabled Shooting Services acts as an
information clearinghouse, handling more than 5,000
requests yearly to help disabled shooters and
hunters.
|
NRA Disabled Shooting
Services
Keeping Them In The Game
Hunting and the shooting sports lose more
than a quarter-million participants every year due to
disabling strokes, diabetes, arthritis, accidental injuries,
and a host of other conditions. However, most people who
suffer such disabilities don`t lose their desire to remain
active, especially sportsmen. With more than 4 million
members, it`s no stretch to suggest that many of these folks
are NRA`s own.
In January 1992, to appropriately field a
growing number of shooting sports inquiries from the
disabled community, the NRA hired Dave Baskin of Rockledge,
Pennsylvania. Baskin brought unique qualifications to the
job: He was the head coach of the highly successful United
States Wheelchair Shooting Team, and for 33 years he worked
for an engineering firm that designed and built
critical-care medical machinery. He began work by assisting
a wide range of hunters, marksmen, and firearm enthusiasts
with specific challenges related to disabilities. But more
than members called: state departments of natural resources,
law enforcement agencies, and firearm industry
representatives also sought Baskin`s advice. In the first
year of operation, the service fielded more than 1,000
inquires. It all was overwhelming. So, in 1994, the program
became NRA Disabled Shooting Services, a bona fide
department within your Association that now handles more
than 5,000 requests for guidance every year. As the requests
have increased, so has the department`s value.
Today, its services encompass almost
every type of disability issue related to gun ownership and
use.
A typical day finds Baskin fielding calls
from a father looking for suggestions about hunting rifles
for his son born with spina bifida; supplying a hunter ed
instructor with tips about working with students in
wheelchairs; even relaying contact information to a natural
resources officer trying to locate the manufacturer of a
mouth-operated trigger mechanism for a crossbow. Sometimes,
however, what`s needed is more than a phone call can
provide. Baskin also has been known to design a rifle
support device for a farmer who lost use of one arm but
still wanted to protect his livestock from predators, or
explain the rehabilitative benefits of rifle shooting for
post-injury patients to a hospital administrator. In just 10
years, Baskin`s service has grown from rather simple roots
to become a clearinghouse of information, a valuable
resource that serves nearly every facet of hunting and the
shooting sports. Better yet, all expertise and guidance is
dispensed free of charge thanks to support from The NRA
Foundation. Contact NRA Disabled Shooting Services at
703-267-1495, or
www.nra.org/compete/disabled.asp.--Eds.
|
|
