THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2013
COLBY FROM PAGE 1
PAGE 3
much about prosthetics. While it took the amputees he met as long as a year to get out of the wheelchair for good, Colby was walking within three months.
"I guess I just didn't know any better," Colby said. "We thought I was normal. We thought everybody did it the way I did it."
Six months after the accident, he was completely independent. Within nine months, Colby ran in the University of Central Oklahoma Endeavor Games, a national competition for athletes with physical disabilities. He won the 200- and 400-meter races.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
Colby Liston, a freshman from Derby, lost his legs after a car accident in August last year. He re-enrolled in classes at the University this fall. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
At Derby High School, Colby was told he'd probably never play varsity football. At 135 pounds, he looked too small to play for a school where as many as 5,000 spectators attended games.
'ALWAYS BEEN
SELF-MOTIVATED'
"Colby has always been self-motivated," Matt said. "I've never had to say, 'Colby, go do your homework.' He's one of those kids who always wanted to be the best at whatever he does."
During his junior year Colby broke his school's long jump record with a 21-foot jump. He intended to try out for the University track
team, and Matt had no doubt his son would have been a walk-on champion.
Colby wanted to play varsity football. He hit the weight room, ran faster, studied the competition and learned the plays. By the end of his senior year, he was voted the best defensive cornerback in 6A schools in Kansas.
"Colby is one of those kids that when he puts his mind to it, he gets it done," Matt said. "When he says, 'I'm never going to sit in a wheelchair again,' he's never going to sit in a wheelchair again."
In honor of that determination,
Derby High School retired Colby's old jersey. At each varsity football game, a freshman player who best exemplifies his character gets to sit on the sidelines suited up in full pads and Colby's old jersey. No. 9
the town rallied to help out financially within days of the accident. Team Liston, a Facebook support group, organized a charity golf tournament, a 5k run and giveback nights at local restaurants. It has also sold T-shirts, buttons and wristbands. Colby has a tan line from the Team Liston wristband he hasn't taken off in a year.
'JUST BEING MYSELF'
Foggy under postoperative pain medications, Colby couldn't pinpoint exactly when he realized he had lost his legs. He remembers going around the SUV to get in the back, then nothing. His dad explained what happened the next day.
Bandaged and lying in hospital bed, Colby asked, "How am I going to get to class?"
A few days after the accident, Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little visited him in the hospital. Colby was napping on and on. He and
his parents were already discussing campus life and the Endeavor Games.
"It was inspiring to see them talk in such a problem-solving way about what they were going to do," Gray-Little said. "That is a wonderful attitude to be able to have in dealing with adversity."
He's used to the students at the
Since he was only on campus for a week last year, Colby started fresh this semester studying petroleum engineering.
gym doing double takes when they see a guy with no legs bench-pressing 255 pounds. Little kids will stare and pull their moms' shoulders. Recently, a boy came up to him on campus.
"These legs are pretty cool, huh?" Colby said.
"Yeah," he said.
"I'm half robot.'
"Really? Whoa. That's cool."
Recently, a farm worker
This past summer, the Listsons went on a family vacation to Tampa, Fla. On waterproof
stubbies, prosthetic feet with no knees. Colby tossed a football around with his brothers.
"Yeah, I can't feel sand between my toes," Colby said. "But my feet don't get cold in the winter. So there's a bad thing, but there's a positive thing that goes along with it."
Matt was relieved that Colby could still enjoy the beach and learn to boogie board. He was happy.
Colby is only 19 and isn't thinking
that far ahead, but he plans to graduate; get a job and eventually start a family. Prosthetics haven't stopped him from achieving any of his other goals.
"I'm just being myself," Colby said. "I don't think I'm doing anything special but people seem to think I am."
Edited by Tara Bryant
Performance challenges ideas of community, physical disabilities
TOM QUINLAN
tquinlan@kansan.com
Tonight the University's Departments of Theater and American Studies will collaborate in a creative musical performance to oppose the challenges of physical disabilities. " (Un)Rolling the Boulder: Improving New Communities" will face stereotypes head on while asking questions about community and belonging.
The performance helps give those with disabilities an opportunity to showcase their artistic abilities and
in the University of California.
According to "(Un)Rolling the Boulder" organizer, performer and professor of American studies Sherri Tucker, the show is meant to be
breaks expectations about what people with physical disabilities are capable of. According to performer Elizabeth Boresow, the collaborators include University students ranging from freshmen to graduate students, as well as University faculty and staff. The production creatively raises awareness of the challenges associated with disability and makes such issues relevant to those in the University community.
an improvisation. Throughout their four rehearsals, the group collaborated to see what sounds, movements and dialogue felt right.
ments and understand right to "Uin(rolling the Boulder" seeks to explore the meaning of community and how some people experience exclusion from their communities. Tucker said. The artists possess varying levels of physical ability, yet worked together to produce a cohesive piece of performance art. The improvisation has fostered profound interaction between all members of the group, which resulted in a community of artists.
The show itself is a fusion of music, dance and dialogue performed by people with or without physical disabilities. Using different artistic elements throughout the show allows the performers to express themselves in unique and unexpected ways.
ed ways.
While some performers can't play traditional instruments, they do make music in nontraditional ways. Adaptive Use Musical Instruments (AUMI) is software that enables people with limited physical abilities to make music by tracking their gestures and motions via a laptop
computer's camera, according to its developer, The Deep Listening Institute. The University is a research partner in the development of AUMI, which was initially used to help children compose music
Using this technology, the performers in "(Un)Rolling the Boulder" can play many instruments and even upload their own sounds into the program to be played for the show.
Tucker said that working with this diverse group of people had a profound effect on her. Everyone involved in the production has personal limitations, whether visible or not.
The performance is tonight at 6 p.m. at the KU Commons in Spooner Hall. Admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend.
the experience of being in the performance really brings home the fiction of the 'able body." Tucker said. She added that there is no such thing as a truly "able body" — everyone has some type of personal limit.
Edited by Kayla Overbey