ABLEnews Extra

                    Bobby's Black Belt

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The man attacked from the front, and Bobby O'Brien let out a menacing
grunt, grabbed the man's head, and wrestled him to the floor. The man
attacked from the back, and Bobby twisted, turned, and flipped him on
his back.

By the end of yesterday's session, 14-year-old Bobby, an eighth-grader
at Rosa Parks Middle School in Olney [MD], had achieved one of
karate's highest honors: A black belt replaced the brown sash that had
been wrapped around his white cotton uniform.

It would have been perfect if only he could have had lunch on time.
Bobby, who was diagnosed with Down's Syndrome hours after his birth,
is used to his routine. Lunch is usually 11:30 to 11:45 AM at the
latest. On Saturday's, he always eats at McDonald's.

But his black belt exam, at a Rockville recreation center, ran from 11
AM to 2 PM.

"That was the hardest part, not having lunch," said Bobby who had just
finished fending off four attackers and sparring with three black
belts. "You get kind of nervous at first, but I like people cheering
for me," Bobby said. "I think I did great. This is something I can do
that others can't do."

After six years of group lessons with the Montgomery County recreation
program and one-on-one tutoring with his coach, black belt Chip
Greene, Bobby had learned three important lessons: speed, power, and
concentration.

"He can do any techniques that I show him; it just takes awhile,"
Greene said. "I haven't catered to him at all, other than just being
very patient."

Bobby's parents, Gretchen and Jim O'Brien, thought karate would be a
good way for Bobby to strengthen his memory, concentration, and
coordination, as well as boost his self-esteem.

"I think it makes him feel more like one of the guys at school," Jim
O'Brien said. "They all have their activities. This is something he
does well."

Bobby, who is mainstreamed, has made straight A's and is an honor
student, said Carol Wunder, an aide who helps Bobby in four academic
subjects. She attended yesterday's black belt exam to cheer him on.

Bobby entertains friends with impressions of tough guys Arnold
Schwarznegger and Clint Eastwood, and he recently started lifting
weights. Bobby's weakness is abstract, deductive reasoning, but his
memory is so strong that he can recite lines of dialogue from movies
and name the singer and year for almost any song from the 1950s and
1960s.

"All you hear is everything they can't do," Gretchen O'Brien said of
youngsters with Down's Syndrome.

But Bobby outlasted his two sisters, who dropped out of karate after
earning their blue belts.

Said his father: "He can do everything normal kids can do. It just
takes him longer...He knows he's a little different, that he's slower
than the other kids, but I'm not sure he fully understands what Down's
Syndrome means."

Greene said judges made some allowances because of Bobby's slow motor
skills, but all 13 judges voted to award the black belt. Candidates
for various belts are judged individually and not compared with one
another, Greene said.

"Getting the black belt for someone with no problems is a hard feat,"
Greene said.

[Chopping Down the Barriers, Ann Borgman, Washington Post, March 26,
1995]

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