The son of a late world champion disabled target shooter and leading disability rights campaigner is to hand over her trophies and medals to Wakefield Museum.
Daniel Park is determined that his mother Stephanie’s achievements helping to develop disabled sport in the UK should not be forgotten.
Stephanie Park, who died aged 72 in October 2012, was a nurse and senior midwife from Wakefield whose life changed drastically in 1981 when she had to have a leg amputated following a car crash.
She became involved in disabled sport, took up shooting and helped set up Dial (Disability Information Advice Line) in Wakefield in 1983.
Mrs Park went on to become the world disabled champion in target shooting in 1987 and won the Cardiff Open Shoot in 1989 – the first sports event in which disabled and non-disabled competitors took part equally.
She was a minister’s representative for disability sport in Yorkshire and was the secretary for the British Sports Association for the Disabled (Yorkshire and Humberside region) in the 1980s and 90s.
Sport England’s funded Disability Shooting Project has honoured Mrs Park, who was also an adviser for the Sports Aid Foundation, with a posthumous award for her contribution to the development of disabled target shooting in Britain.
Her son Daniel, 42, said: “I am donating all awards and medals won by my late mother to the local studies collection of Wakefield Museums.
“She passionately believed that disabled people should not just get rights and benefits, but should have the courage and opportunities to achieve higher things for themselves. She was an inspiration and an engine of activity during a crucial period in disability sport.”
Source: Evening Post
