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We have great news to share with you! No Barriers Festival 2009 at Shake-A-Leg Miami has extended early bird registration pricing through April 2009! The University of Miami is offering FREE dorm rooms to participants of Festival 2009, so it's even more affordable to join us. We'd love to see you there. Please visit www.NoBarriersUSA.org for more information and to register online.
In this newsletter we are excited to share details about the amazing speakers we have this year. More details and updates appear regularly on our web site so please visit often to get the latest on the Festival.
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Meet our Festival 2009 speakers: Aimee Mullins, Jesse Billauer, and Kelly & Craig Perkins
Aimee Mullins
Festival 2009 Opening Ceremony Speaker
 In the words of world-renowned athlete, actress, speaker and model Aimee Mullins: "Beauty is when people radiate that they like themselves." Mullins' legs were amputated at the age of one, but with the help of the most advanced artificial prosthetics, she set world records in the 100-meter, 200-meter dash and the long jump at the Paralympics in Atlanta, GA, in 1996, and changed the way people view people with disabilities in the years since.
Aimee defies conventional description, both on and off the track. The fact that she is bilateral below-the knee amputee, born without fibula bones in both shins, has not hindered her success in any way. Off the track, she was one of three nationally chosen high school students to receive full scholarships awarded by the U.S. Department Defense. In May 1998, she graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, a dean's list major in history and diplomacy.
Since the Paralympics in Atlanta and her Georgetown graduation, Aimee's life has changed dramatically. News of her accomplishments and courage spread to millions around the world. She has been featured in many forms of media, including Sports Illustrated for Women, NBC's Dateline, The Rosie O'Donell Show, Parade, Esquire, Jane, Cosmopolitan and was selected as one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." She won the "Disabled Female Athlete of the Year" from USA Track and Field, was 1997's "Women of Distinction" from the National Association of Women in Education and was a nominee for ESPN's Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. Aimee was named to the Disabled Sports USA Advisory Council and was nominated by Sen. Max Cleland for a position on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. She is also a Past-President of the Women's Sports Foundation.
Her passion for running is equaled only by her drive and determination to make a difference in whatever she pursues. She says, "I want to do projects that challenge people's ideas of beauty and the myth that disabled people are less capable, less interesting. I want to expose people to disability as something that they can't pity or fear or closet, but something that they accept and maybe want to emulate." Mullins is currently working on her film and modeling career.
Jesse Billauer
Festival 2009 Evening Speakers Program
As a youth, Jesse Billauer was a star athlete who began surfing at the age of nine. By age eleven, Jesse was surfing competitively and making a name for himself on the water. As his reputation grew, so did his sponsor family at international competitions. He surfed and competed in Hawaii, Tahiti, Indonesia, Mexico, and Costa Rica. By the mid-90's, Surfer magazine had named him one of the Top 100 up-and-coming surfers of the world.
Driving to school one October morning in 1995, Jesse's SUV was broadsided by another vehicle. The SUV rolled and he was thrown from the vehicle. Jesse was lucky, and after several months of rehabilitation, he recovered from this car accident. He was able to resume competitive surfing, and in March of 1996 was rated the top Junior in the Pacific Surf Series. Negotiations were underway to put Jesse on the Pro Tour - a lifelong dream - when fate struck again. On the morning of March 25th, 1996, Jesse was hit by the crest of a wave and flew headfirst into a shallow sandbar. Immediately, his body went limp; he found himself floating facedown in the water, unable to turn over. Jesse held his breath and waited for the ocean to flip him over so he could get air. Doctors determined that he suffered a complete spinal cord injury and was now a quadriplegic.
Despite the obvious limitations of his condition, he has resumed living life to its fullest. He continues to surf in an adaptive style and keeps in contact with the surf community, from his sponsors to his former surfing buddies, such as Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, and Tim Curran. Jesse's social life also remains active. He has been seen with the likes of Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Dr. Dre, Eminem, and the Black Eyed Peas among others. He graduated from San Diego State University with a degree in Communications in May of 2002.
Since Jesse's accident, he created a non-profit 501(c)3 foundation called Life Rolls On which is dedicated to increasing awareness about spinal cord injuries. With such dedication and love for life, Jesse inspires people to look at their lives in a more thoughtful and thankful way.
Kelly & Craig Perkins
Festival 2009 Evening Speakers Program
Born in 1961 and raised in Lake Tahoe, California, Kelly enjoyed growing up in the heart of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. While attending college in San Francisco, Kelly met Craig who shared her love for the outdoors. After getting married in 1987, their commitment and desire to visit and hike in other parts of the world grew stronger and by 1992, Kelly and Craig were hiking the majestic trails of the Swiss Alps. Just one month later, Kelly started noticing some unusual symptoms, including a racing heartbeat. In September 1992, Kelly was diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy after an EKG captured her resting heart rate at nearly 200 beats per minute - over four times her normal rate.
For three and a half tumultuous years, Craig and Kelly lived in and out of hospitals until her body succumbed to congestive heart failure. On November 20, 1995, Kelly received a heart transplant at the UCLA Medical Center. After a long comeback that involved an acute rejection, Craig coached Kelly as she regained her strength and together they returned to "bagging" the peaks of the world.
Kelly went on to shock the medical world by becoming the first heart transplant recipient to reach the peak some of the world's most famous mountains, including one of the "Seven Summits," Mt. Kilimanjaro. In 2003, Craig and Kelly returned to the Swiss Alps to cast their own shadow on the trails below, this time while standing on the top of the Matterhorn. Their remarkable comeback story is a testament to courage, commitment and the relentless desire to live.
With Craig's support, Kelly has expanded the possibilities of what a heart transplant recipient can do, climbing mountains that few thought possible. They are a true adventure team.
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Staff
Nicole Deters Spader
Executive Director
Jackie Craig
Event Coordinator
Board of Directors
Erik Weihenmayer, Chair
Mal Daly, Vice-Chair
Mike Savicki, Treasurer
Hugh Herr, Ph.D.
Mark Wellman
Jim Goldsmith, Director Emeritus
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Pre-Event Registration Options
(based on date of registration):
1) Early Bird Full Festival
Registration Disabled
Individuals, Caregivers,
Family Members & Students
Now through April 30, 2009
2) Early Bird Full Festival
Registration Individuals &
Professionals
Now through April 30, 2009
$150.00
3) Full Festival Registration
Disabled Individuals,
Caregivers, Family
Members & Students
Valid beginning May 1
through May 26, 2009
4) Full Festival Registration
Individuals & Professionals
Valid beginning May 1
through May 26, 2009
$200.00
On-Site Registration Options (June 4 through June 7, 2009):
1) Full Festival Registration
Disabled Individuals,
Caregivers, Family
Members & Students
$175.00
2) Full Festival Registration
Individuals & Professionals
$250.00
3) Day Pass Registration
Disabled Individuals,
Caregivers, Family
Members & Students
$50.00
4) Day Pass Registration
Individuals & Professionals
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Please visit www.NoBarriersUSA.org
for details about discounted airline tickets through
American Airlines and
discounted accommodations, including FREE dorm rooms
at the University of Miami!
You can register for
No Barriers Festival 2009
at Shake-A-Leg Miami
online or through the mail.
A limited amount of
scholarships are available!
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NO BARRIERS FESTIVAL 2009 AT SHAKE-A-LEG MIAMI
PREMIER PARTNERS
The Ritz Carlton Coconut Grove, Miami
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