by Haley Carroll
This July, I was lucky enough to represent Adaptive Sports New England during the opening ceremony of a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, and it was an experience that I am super grateful for! It was Disability Pride Night, so not only was I there, but so were a bunch of important people/contributors in the world of disability and disabled sport. It felt really special to be among them as they were recognized for the work they’ve done!
We rolled on the field for the first pitch and introductions of each person, which was nerve-wracking. At the same time, I had so much fun watching everyone’s introductions and hearing all of the people in the stadium cheering for them. I think the cheering really struck me because I had to sit and think for a second about how amazing it was that I was even able to be there, representing my team, on a night that was all about disability pride (something that I feel is so far from how the world used to act around disabilities and disabled people as a whole).
Because of that, I couldn’t help but feel so much gratitude towards my coaches and all of the people behind the scenes for allowing me to not only feel more confident with myself and my disabilities, but to play sports again! All in all it was a super fun night, and being able to feel all that pride and watch the game with my family was an experience I’ll never forget.
