VCU apologized to a URI commentator who was unable to access the commentators’ box at VCU. PHOTO CREDIT: Shane Donaldson
For his entire career, Shane Donaldson has wanted to be judged by anything but his disability.
When Shane Donaldson posted a tweet about not being able to call the University of Rhode Island’s basketball game against Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), it led to backlash towards VCU from both communities.
Donaldson was going to call the game for the radio station B101, as a color commentator alongside play-by-play commentator Stone Freeman, when he realized the set up would make it difficult for him to perform those duties.
“It was a temporary platform that was built into the top of the stands at the Siegel Center,” Donaldson said. “To get onto the platform, you had to climb the step ladder, which is in the picture, then go over the fence which is a permanent metal fence.”
For Donaldson, who has cerebral palsy, this made calling the game very difficult, and Freeman ended up having to cover the game alone.
Donaldson says that both URI and VCU’s fanbases were immediately supportive after attention was brought to the situation.
“I have to give a lot of credit to VCU’s fanbase, I heard directly from a lot of folks who I had never met before expressing their own frustration that that would have been the setup,” Donaldson said. “It was really quite remarkable to hear from as many folks as I did.”
Donaldson also said that the positive feedback from people who agreed that the situation was unacceptable helped validate his frustration and anger.
Thorr Bjorn, URI’s director of athletics, said that he talked to VCU’s athletic director almost immediately.
“He called me immediately, we talked before the game, we talked after the game then we talked the next day, they were very responsive in terms that they knew that they were incredibly sorry of what had happened,” Bjorn said.
Donaldson also said that their athletic director, Ed McLaughlin, reached out to him the following morning, which he appreciated.
However, he did express some concern with the statement that VCU put out on social media the following day.
“As far as the statement itself, there are parts of it that I don’t necessarily agree with,” Donaldson said.“I thought that it was somewhat telling that there were various versions of the statement that went out, and went out publicly.”
After the original statement was published, there were multiple edits made and the statement was re-released. He also said that statement indicated that they had offered to make other arrangements for Donaldson to call the game, which Donaldson said was not, in his view, an accurate portrayal of the situation.
Donaldson and Bjorn both said that this situation should be used as a learning situation for everyone.
“Not knowing everyone’s individual situation, I’d really like to focus on ‘what can we do, how can we learn from any difficult situation that people go through so we can provide, what I hope would be a welcoming environment for everyone,” Bjorn said.
Donaldson also said that the set up at VCU was a liability for people with disabilities, as well as able-bodied people, saying that it was inviting people to get hurt.
Donaldson, who said that he has worked his entire life to never let his disability affect his professional or personal matters in the past, said that the fact that people are reflecting on this situation means a lot to him.
“Just the fact that people are taking an extra moment to think about certain situations and self-assess, that means the world, because at the end of the day, quite frankly, all I wanted to do was my job,” Donaldson said.