Exclusive pre-Paralympics interview with National Ability Center CEO Dan Glasser

Para (meaning parallel status) Olympic signage in Beijing. Photo: Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — As a premier global leader for recreational therapy, the nonprofit National Ability Center (NAC) in Park City will be well represented when the Beijing 2022 Paralympics begin on Friday. The NAC enjoys a proud history of training elite athletes with disabilities who go on to compete at Paralympic Games.

Dan Glasser, NAC CEO will be rooting for the Beijing 2022 athletes, commentators, and officials who’ve honed their skills at the NAC Campus and at the NAC Ski Center, many of whom have attended multiple Games including both Summer and Winter. Additionally, The NAC continuously invites athletes who are citizens of other countries to live, work, train, and compete in Park City as they represent their own nations in the Paralympics.

When asked about the fact that NAC athletes are, first and foremost, a part of the greater Park City community, he told me,

“The more normalized experiences we have with people who have different abilities and are different than ourselves, the more understanding, inclusion, and overall diminished separation between the various people we have. I think the more we get exposed to people who are different than ourselves, the more accepting we are for the differences we all have.”

Click here to register/donate to one of the NAC’s signature fundraising events, the 18th annual Red, White, and Snow occurring this week on March 3 – 5, for which many of the portions of the popular community event are already sold out. Glasser expressed his gratitude to past, present, and future attendees saying, “so much of the funding generously raised at these events go directly to sending athletes to the Beijing 2022 Paralympics and beyond. To be named to the United States Paralympic Team, they’re required to amass points at international competitions so the National Ability Center supports their overseas schedule and provides them with one of the world’s most highly respected administrative and coaching staff.”

Regarding generations of selfless Park City residents, Glasser said, “volunteers are the backbone to our programs. They’re the ambassadors for the Adaptive Nation and the National Ability Center can’t do any of what we do without them.”

Over the decades, The NAC has provided outreach to countries and cultures which lag behind in not merely sports offerings for people with disabilities but basic inclusion within their communities, schools, workplaces, public spaces, and families. NAC delegations simply serve to educate about positive possibilities for people with disabilities, however, the pandemic has halted such word-wide logistical sharing of ideas and delivering of wheelchairs. That hasn’t halted the actionable altruism of Glasser and his passionate clients and colleagues. He said, “we continue to address local, state, and national government entities introducing legislation that is aligned with our mission. We want to continue to be a voice in the room that advocates for our population.”

Finally, Glasser spoke about his excitement surrounding the very real potentiality of Salt Lake City and Park City hosting a Winter Olympic/Paralympic Games saying, “I couldn’t be more supportive of the efforts for securing the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic bid. I think that it brings a shining light on programs like NAC and the work that Colin Hilton does the Utah Olympic Park and all the great work that was done in 2002 which can be easily recreated among the Eccles’ and Romneys and the countless other supporters who’ve carried on the Utah Movement. I’d love to see a comeback to Park City.”

The Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games will be broadcast on the networks of NBC.