Gaining Respect For The Disabled

Local LDS youth navigate an obstacle course with blindfolds on at a Youth Conference centered around disability awareness held over the weekend.

By Jessica Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

Youth members, ages 14-18 of the LDS Logandale Stake attended an annual Youth Conference event last weekend, March 5-6. The conference was held at the Moapa park and the adjacent LDS Chapel. The theme of the conference was disability awar eness. Approximately 200 youth arrived to participate.

Conference began at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. The youth listened to a speaker and were given a brief summary of what they would be doing throughout the day. Then, at 9:30, they went outside and participated in a number of activities.

Eleven stations were set up around the church and at the nearby park. One taught sign language and Braille. Another was an obstacle course where the youth were blind-folded, given a cane, and had to navigate through a maze.

There was also a “Home Challenge.” The teens had to perform daily things such as making a sandwich or opening and passing through doors all while sitting in a wheelchair.

One of the most popular activities was wheelchair basketball and beep baseball. In beep baseball, the batter and outfielders are all blindfolded. The ball emits beeping sounds so that the blindfolded batter can know when to swing and fielders trying to locate the ball can find it. Also the bases make noises to guide the runner.

youthconf1 — Passing through various obstacles and kicking a soccer ball while using crutches was on of the activity stations at the LDS Youth Conference held over the weekend.

“This is some of the most fun I’ve had in a while,” Jason Zerkle commented while waiting in line to play beep baseball.

Each participant was given cards listing all the activity stations and told that they had to participate in activities and have their cards marked at each station in order to get lunch.

The activities continued on until about 2:00 p.m.

The youth gathered again at the Logandale Stake Center at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday for a special dinner with the youth from Mesquite who had been invited. About 400 youth participated in this portion of youth conference. The youth participated in a dance at 8:00 p.m.

A morning church service was held on Sunday morning to close the Youth Conference. At the service, youth were encouraged to stand and share their feelings about the Youth Conference experience and express their faith and religious convictions to their peers and adult leaders.

“We’re happy with how youth conference went,” President Wilbur Frehner, counselor in the Logandale Stake Presidency said. “It was very successful.”