Petaluma’s Miracle League field sits idle

Local families who care for children with disabilities say the coronavirus and shelter-in-place order has presented numerous obstacles, limiting in-home support services and preventing their kids from participating in sports.|

At this time of year, the Dino Richard Ghilotti field at Lucchesi Park would likely be filled players from the local chapter of the Miracle League, a national nonprofit devoted to making baseball accessible to children and adults with mental and physical disabilities.

But the one-year-old complex designed specifically for the unique needs of the group’s 65 North Bay players now sits empty as the shelter-in-place order meant to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus remains.

The inability to spend afternoons at the diamond that took years and roughly $3 million to construct has been difficult for the league and many of its players. For Jennifer Richardson, President of the North Bay chapter’s board of directors, she’s hearing this sentiment not only from local families and players, but from her own son as well.

"He is giving me an earful all the time,” Richardson said, whose 16-year-old Liam Richardson has Down syndrome and is an ambassador for the league. “I caught him in the backyard taking apples off the apple tree and hitting them with a bat into the neighbor’s yard. He’s just so desperate to do something.”

For some local families who care for children with disabilities and are members of the disability community, they say the coronavirus and shelter-in-place order has presented numerous complications and obstacles. For some, it’s meant an end to crucial services and social programs such as in-home support or therapy, as well as the chance to partake in America’s greatest pastime.

“COVID has been really hard on our league for multiple reasons, one is that they’re an incredibly high risk population, so they need to be even more cautious,” Richardson said. “I’m seeing the rest of the population with quarantine fatigue getting risky, going on hikes or meeting with friends.

“Our (Miracle League) families won’t take that risk because the risk is too high. They’ve already seen their kids in a hospital struggling for breath from a normal cold,” she said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, most people with disabilities are not inherently higher risk for contracting COVID-19, however, some people with disabilities have underlying health conditions that increases their risk of infection or complications from the virus.

About one in four adults in the U.S. has a disability, and a recent analysis of health data from two states by NPR found that people with intellectual disabilities and autism die at higher rates from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, than the rest of the population.

As the likelihood of returning to the field grows slimmer by the day, Richardson and her team at the Miracle League are looking for ways to remain connected to players and families. A parade in Petaluma last weekend featuring the Rip City Riders and the league’s baseball-headed mascot Homer kicked off this effort, going door-to-door to say hello to players and leave them with goodie bags.

“I’m hearing from one parent after another about the stress and that they’re at a breaking point,” Richardson said. “We thought this could be a way for kids and their parents to know that there are people that care about them and are thinking about them.”

For some parents of players like Petaluma resident Meg Swift, the parade was a welcome distraction to what has been a difficult few months. She said the league gives her 6-year-old son Owen, who has Down syndrome, a place to play and be himself.

“I think what’s really interesting in the special needs community in general is that everyone gets something different out of the sports they play,” Swift said. “For Owen, he just loves being the center of attention, so him hearing his name over the loud speaker at the field just makes his day.”

(Contact Kathryn Palmer at kathryn.palmer@arguscourier.com, on Twitter @KathrynPlmr.)

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