by Betsy Kleiss
Ballooning is a sport for everyone, including persons with disabilities. I have two crew members who are hearing-impaired. I do not hesitate in contacting them any time I need crew. They show up on or ahead of time, wear appropriate clothing and always have their gloves with them. They are not afraid to ask questions and are always ready, willing and able to accept a new challenge. More to the point, they are top-notch crew!
This is the second summer Cheryl and Bruce have been part of my crew. Cheryl is a real pro at driving my chase vehicle. She is good at getting ahead of the balloon and is generally waiting for me to land or is close by. Cheryl does not rely as much on radio contact as her sense of perception of where a good landing site might be. Bruce is always cheerful and never seems to mind what crewing assignment I give him. He also takes a lot of photographs of my balloon as well as everyone else's. The only thing I need to remember is to be in Cheryl and Bruce's line of sight when communicating with them. It does not offend either one of them if I tap them on the shoulder to get their attention when their backs are turned.
Bruce and Cheryl know what their limitations are. If they say they can do a job they can. I trust them. I have found the Bruce and Cheryl make up for their disability by being more sensitized in other areas. If I'm concerned about the job I want them to do, I work with them until I'm satisfied they can do it. I don't make the assumption they can't do the job. I give them a chance. Persons with other kinds of disabilities may find crewing too physically demanding while others may find specific areas in crewing that they are adept at doing. You may find, as I have, that persons with disabilities can make excellent crew members.
I realize there are times when my crews' disabilities affect my decisions. Let's look at a drop line landing I made recently. My landing spot was a triangular piece of grass by a building. To get to this spot I had to fly over a row of trees and cross over powerlines. Not a problem. I had given instructions via radio to my crew chief and assumed he would get the drop line once I threw it over the side of the basket. My hearing-impaired crew members were unable to hear these instructions. I had a rather a hard landing and just missed a trash dumpster and a car that had just pulled up.
As I look back, I had two other landing options. I could have landed in a washed out area of a corn field and had my crew walk me to the road or I could have continued 100 feet further and thrown down my drop line over a field of newly planted beans that had barely come up. I could then have had my crew pull me back to the grassy spot. I would still have had the hard landing but wouldn't have had a dumpster and car to worry about.
There is no way before a flight that you can tell your crew members about every possible situation that could happen. To help remedy future problems I have given each of my crew a copy of a ground crew manual. I will talk to every member of my crew about his or her specific assignment and I will be working with Bruce and Cheryl on hand signals.
I have enjoyed having Cheryl and Bruce as crew members and recommend that others give persons with disabilities an opportunity to experience ballooning.