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When Seth Gitner sees his colleagues who don’t have disabilities try their hand at sled hockey, he’s always amused. The Syracuse University professor can’t help but smile and laugh at the topples and crashes.

“They’re falling over left and right, they can’t stay up straight,” Gitner said. “And it’s actually fun to watch.”

Gitner is a professor in the magazine, news and journalism and visual communications programs in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He’s been passionate about sports photography since his days at The Roanoke Times, and currently teaches a sports photography course to his students. But Gitner’s love for athletics goes beyond the lens — he’s just as involved even when the camera’s off.

Gitner is also a board member for Central New York Adaptive Sports, a not-for-profit organization that aims to get people with disabilities involved in indoor and outdoor athletic activities. As a player for the Central New York Flyers for over five years, Gitner is no stranger to the world of adaptive sports.

Gitner’s journey with adaptive sports began when he sustained a neck injury from a waterslide in 2017. After an MRI, a lengthy hospital stay and surgery, he was diagnosed as a high-functioning quadriplegic. The injury affects all aspects of his life, he said, but primarily impacts his ability to feel pain or temperature on his right side and causes a feeling of weakness on his left side.

Angela Gitner said her husband’s disability has connected him to her work as a physical therapist. After the accident, Gitner started seeking out information about people with disabilities, and his involvement and excitement for adaptive sports grew, she said.

As part of SU’s first Disability Pride Month planning committee, Gitner has been active in orchestrating the month-long celebration. He helped organize sporting events like wheelchair basketball and inclusive sled hockey to get students involved. Gitner enjoys seeing when people with and without disabilities play alongside each other.

One of Gitner’s students, freshman broadcast and digital journalism major Dylan DeBiccari, got to try his hand at wheelchair basketball for the first time. The pair played a round of one-on-one on Monday, before one of Gitner’s classes. Even though basketball was DeBicarri’s primary sport in high school, wheelchair basketball was a whole different experience, he said. It was difficult and a little painful, but he still had fun.

Although DeBiccari lost the matchup with Gitner, the experience gave him a glimpse into what it’s like to play an adaptive sport, something he hadn’t known much about before.

“It made me realize what some people have to go through just to play one of the sports that I love,” DeBiccari said. “It really gave me a sense of appreciation.”

Other ways students have gotten involved with inclusive sports include hosting philanthropy events benefiting CNY Adaptive Sports and volunteering to move equipment. Last year, the SU men’s hockey club team raised over $2,300 for CNY Adaptive Sports, which essentially paid for most of the group’s ice time this season, Gitner said.

In the past, turnout for adaptive sporting events at SU has been weak, which Gitner hoped to fix with this year’s events. Collaborations with SU colleges, club sports and student organizations, are all grassroot ways that Gitner works to involve the campus community with inclusive athletics.

In future iterations of the celebration, Gitner hopes to collaborate with more organizations, including Runway of Dreams, a student organization that promotes inclusivity through adaptive clothing. He hopes inclusive events like these will spread awareness and reduce the stigma associated with having a disability.

“Once they do it, they’re like ‘Dude, that was great. I would love to do it again,’” Gitner said. “And that’s what we want.”

Published on April 10, 2025 at 1:25 am
Contact Spencer: sphoward@syr.edu