On Saturday, Oct. 14, Sinclair College and the Muscular Dystrophy Association sponsored and hosted a wheelchair costume clinic for Dayton area adults and children who use a wheelchair.
Those at the event got to have their wheelchairs customized for Halloween and explore the new Sifferlen Health Sciences Center.
The event was put together by Sinclair’s Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) program in honor of National Physical Therapy (PT) Month and National PT Day of Service.
Heather Stoner, Assistant Professor in the PTA department, was in charge of the event.
“If we can help make this really cool, kid-focused holiday more about them as a person, and not about their disability, and let them be the superstars for the night, we’ve accomplished our goal,” Stoner said.
Students and faculty from both Sinclair’s PTA program and University of Dayton’s Department of Physical Therapy (DPT) came to the open house of the new Sifferlen Health Sciences Center the previous Saturday to start building the costumes, and finished them up at the costume clinic.
A total of 18 costumes were completed, with a total of 11 different designs. There were four costumes modeled after Cinderella’s carriage, four designs from the “Mario Kart” video game series, two flying carpets from the cartoon “Shimmer and Shine,” the DeLorean from the “Back to the Future” movies, Lightning McQueen from the movie “Cars,” the “Gekko Mobile” from the cartoon “PJ Masks,” a Captain America themed costume, Ariel from “The Little Mermaid,” a race car, a bulldozer and a backhoe.
As each of the participants showed up, the costumes were fitted for the different wheelchairs, and the students had to use critical thinking skills to help solve the problem of how each one was going to be attached.
This was not the first year this has been done at Sinclair, and Heather ensures that it will continue to be an annual event for the foreseeable future.
Multiple businesses helped with the event by donating supplies and helping to find the members of the community who participated. These businesses included Dayton Public Schools, Dayton Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, ABC Pediatrics, the Spina Bifida Association, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and Montgomery County Disability Services.
The PTA program is also accepting donations of paint, glue and zip-ties to help towards next year’s event.
Daniel Riley
Reporter