Keith Barney

My Background:

II was asked to teach a class on Accessible Recreation during the Fall Term 2001 and I really enjoyed the experience. So when the opportunity came along to become a full-time instructor, I jumped at the chance. I joined the faculty in Fall 2002. I teach courses in the introductory level as well as those that specialize in Theraputic Recreation.

I came to BYU from the University of Utah where I was working as a social worker on the rehabilitation unit. I was providing counseling and education to people with injuries and limitations of all kinds, but with special assignment to the Intermountain Spinal Cord Injury Center.

My Master's Degree is in Social Work. I completed my studies in 1988 and began working in rehab. At that point I discovered how well my personal theories matched those of Therapeutic Recreation. I immediately began studies and was licensed the following year as a Therapeutic Recreation Specialist. My excitement was based on the fact that the theories of rehabilitation counseling and recreation worked so well together as to lose track of where one ends and where the other begins. I use all tools available to make a difference for the people experiencing paralysis due to injury or illness and the immediate threat that the person perceives to the happiness, quality of life and their very existence.

Courses I Teach:

RMYL 304
RMYL 307
RMYL 472
RMYL 487

Personal Information:

I experienced a spinal cord injury at age 14. I immediately reacted by thinking that everything started with "I can't." Living in a rural community with limited access to role models and teachers who could demonstrate what a wheelchair assisted lifestyle looked like, I took several cautious years to re-engage in life and get back to work on my life long goals. Eventually I attended BYU as a starting point to begin mapping out my future. As I completed some basic steps I began to set my goals higher. I left BYU and served a mission in Florida. I came home with the idea that I could help people going through rehab to believe in their future. I changed my major to Social Work and got married and got to work on wheelchair sports of interest like basketball, road racing and tennis. All of the goals I had thrown out the window at age 15 were suddenly coming true. I completed my degree at BYU and went on to get my Master of Social Work degree at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.

My wife Trish and I have three children. We have lived in Alpine, Utah since 1989. My athletic accomplishments have provided many opportunities to me such as playing wheelchair basketball with the Wheeling Jazz in the National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament (our version of March Madness). Another opportunity was handcycling across the United States in an event called the Big Ride Across America. Cycling also took me to race in France in 1999 as a member of the US Disabled Cycling Team. From there, my attention was turned to skiing and I was also able to race in Germany as a member of the US Disabled Cross Country Ski Team. Perhaps the highlight of my athletic invovlvement was participating in the recent 2002 Salt Lake City Paralympics as a member of the US Ski Team. Representing the US in Paralympic competition was a goal I had set for myself in 1976 after hearing Curt Brinkman describe his experiences in the Montreal, Canada Paralympic Games. I participated in two events, the 5 kilometer cross country race and the biathlon.