This student has demonstrated how his disability has impacted his life and how it will impact his future. In particular, he discusses the challenges or hardships he has overcome as a result of his disability. Eric, joins a community of talented and inspiring students. In the years to come, it will be fascinating to see how he develops and shapes his community.
Eric Court
Eric Court’s childhood is one most of us could never imagine. Born in China, Eric was disabled by polio when he was very young. Soon thereafter he was abandoned and sent to a child welfare institute in China. While there, Eric’s exceptional intelligence and aptitude for learning became evident. So much so, that one of the orphanage directors fought for him to be admitted to a public school—a rare opportunity for a disabled child in that setting.
Eric excelled in his subjects, aware of how special it was for him to go to school. In 2015, Eric was adopted by an American family to begin the next chapter of his life in the United States.
Remembering his past, Eric finds light in the darkness. “I guess you could say that being abandoned was an obstacle that came because of the onset of my disability. However, it was there that I began to develop my skills for overcoming difficulties.”
Eric specifically recalls one caring teacher. “She moved with me through grades one through five. And she helped me as though I was an ordinary student, and not like someone who is disabled. Because sometimes we simply need to be treated the same and she did that.”
But one vital part of his early education was not so caring. Because he was disabled, he was never given a chance to go out and play with the other kids in his class or participate in physical education. Eric explains, “To them, getting an education was already privilege enough. There was no need for me to play. Having the privilege of ‛play′ withheld while watching others receive it was a huge hardship that I am still working through in dealing with my strong need to feel accepted and included.”
Being adopted and coming to America has opened up opportunities he never expected. “When I came here about 6 years ago, my parents took me to a pool. I’d never been near a pool or seen a pool but I loved it. Soon I got involved with AccessSurf, an organization that helps disabled people surf. It was just incredible what things I could do that I never imagined.”
Today, Eric is the recipient of the Marc Whitehead & Associates 2022 Flora Marie Jenkins Memorial Disability Scholarship. He will attend the University of Arizona, majoring in physiology. An avid wheelchair tennis player, he will play on the university’s adaptive tennis team. Eric hopes to launch a career in adaptive tennis and complement that with a career in Sports Medicine.
Eric is now deeply involved with the adaptive sports community, where he discovered his love for tennis. He played this year with the U.S. team at the World Team Cup and hopes to go to the 2024 Paralympics. “It’s a long shot but I have to give it a try and do my best to go there.”
Eric is energized by Arizona’s thriving adaptive community. “You can see everyone getting involved. An organization called Ability360 sets up all sorts of activities and sports events that the whole community attends.” As an engaged member of the disabled community, Eric plans to put words into action by working with disability outreach to provide adaptive sports programming in the community, including adaptive sports camps and motivational speaking.
Eric put it best when he explained what winning the scholarship means to him. “The opportunities that I have right now from others have given me a new purpose in life. I want to give this opportunity, which has greatly blessed my life, to other disabled people so that they could be their own advocates and experience life to the fullest. This scholarship will allow me to pursue this path by helping me pay for attendance and housing at a university away from my home since there are no adaptive sports programs at all in my home state’s universities.”
We congratulate Eric and are honored he shared his story with us! We are confident he will make a tremendous difference within his community and beyond, and look forward to seeing his future unfold.
You can learn more about our scholarships and other resources online at College Scholarship.
Terms and Conditions:
Entry materials will not be returned to you. By submitting an entry for the Flora Marie Jenkins Memorial Disability Scholarship, you acknowledge that if you become a scholarship recipient, Marc Whitehead & Associates will own all rights to publish and promote the submission.
Publicity:
All applicants agree that they consent to the use of their name and city/state of residence, as well to the use of their likeness (as in a photograph) and award information.
Marc Whitehead & Associates’ RIGHT TO MODIFY, SUSPEND OR TERMINATE. In the event Marc Whitehead & Associates is prevented from continuing with the Scholarship Program by any event beyond its reasonable control, then Marc Whitehead & Associates shall have the right in its sole discretion to modify or terminate the Scholarship Program.
