Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports helps people with disabilities ride for Roswell

AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) — When Tyler Ball was about 7 years old, he received his first handcycle. For Ball, who has spina bifida, the handcycle gave him the opportunity to get out of his wheelchair and walk around town with his friends.

“Biking has really allowed me to be like all my other friends, going on bike rides and hitting the park trails,” Ball said. “It’s really just a recreational thing that you can pick up and learn in a few hours, and then you can translate it to going out with family or friends and just being active.”

With the help of Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports, Ball, along with 21 other individuals with disabilities, will have the chance to ride for Roswell, as this is the first year an adaptive handcycle division has been added to the event.

“I’m really excited to ride for such a great cause and represent Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports,” Ball said. “It’s so important to stay active as a person with a disability, just to be able to build on the ability that we have. ” said Ball.

Just days before the ride, Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports helped these riders use handcycles based on their abilities.

Bud Carpenter, former head athletic trainer for the Buffalo Bills and now a coach and board member for Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports, says the day they put those riders on the handcycles was like their Christmas.

“The greatest satisfaction is seeing the smile, it’s not just the smile of the person riding, it’s the smile of the parents who watch their child get on a bike for the first time and be able to participate in the Ride for Roswell, which means so much to Western New York,” Carpenter said “It’s like the Field of Dreams, in the movie they said build it and they will come, well in. our case, buy it and we can let them be a part of it.”

These handcycles can cost between $5,000 and $12,000 each, and with support from West Herr, the Buffalo Sabres, Highmark, as well as Dr. Yellamraju Kumar and four students, they were able to get ten bikes to extra hand just in time for the ride.

“We have about 56 children with spina bifida in the community and in association with the foundation, we have at least 15 to 20 children who want to participate and who want to donate to Ride for Roswell,” said Dr. Kumar of Alden Medical Group. .

Dr. Kumar, along with Arjun Pindiprolu, Adam Iqbal, Anika Kaur and Sumedha Dondapati, helped raise $15,000 and hopes to raise more money to purchase more handcycles in the future.

“Anyone who is disabled in some way or wants to ride these bikes can rest easy knowing that they live in a city as good as Buffalo and are very willing to help them,” Iqbal said.

“Our long-term goal is to eventually be able to have handcycles in the community,” said Adam Page, executive director of Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports. “For people with disabilities and for people, as well as for elderly people, or for people who cannot ride a regular bicycle for whatever reason, and who have handcycles that you can rent.”

To learn more about The Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports and all of their programs, and how you can donate to help their cause, visit their website here. For more information on the Ride for Roswell, visit their website here.