HANCOCK, M.A. -- "If I'm going fast enough I get that adrenaline, definitely," said Sean Manchuck.

Manchuck is talking about his need for speed and how much he loves to ski. That's one reason why he's a volunteer instructor this season at Jiminy Peak in Hancock.

"It just makes me happy to go skiing past other skiers who are standing up," said Manchuck.

Other skiers are standing up, but Manchuck is not. He was born with a condition called flaccid paralysis. It has confined him to a wheelchair, but it certainly hasn't confined his love for skiing.

"If I'm doing it right, I can ski faster than most standup skiers. It's the same fundamentals. I'm just on one ski instead of two," said Manchuck.

He's part of a program called STRIDE, which teaches people with disabilities how to play sports.

"It really shows them (they) can do this when in a lot of other aspects of their lives, they can't do things, or they've been told that," said STRIDE volunteer Mindy Fairchild.

"Can't" is a word that's never been in Manchuck's vocabulary. He started skiing at 7-years-old. Now he's a ski instructor, so he can teach others with disabilities that there's no difference between them and other skiers.

"All skiing is adaptive. None of us ski down on our feet. And it's just, what equipment do you use to get down the hill?," said Fairchild.

It's the universal language of skiing that bridges differences on the slopes. Sean recently took a trip to Breckenridge Colorado to ski with the U.S. Paralympic Team. He said that was fun, but the most rewarding experience for him was when he had the chance to teach some wounded veterans from Iraq how to mono-ski.

"STRIDE did a lot for me. They show you a lot of things and let you do a lot of things and I'd hope to show someone the same things, you know?" said Manchuck.

For example, showing others that the key to mono-ski is adaptation. Without it, well, "It would be cold in the winter for no reason. That's for sure," said Manchuck.