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“What are disabled people?”

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

I spent a wonderful morning in Gnoll Park at the Local Aid Schools Challenge this week. The event runs the whole week long and has been going on for twenty years or more. We have enjoyed days and days of unbroken sunshine so I was a little surprised to see rain but it didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm for the event. And what an event it is. 

For those of you who do not know Local Aid it is a local charity working to raise awareness of the needs and aspirations of young people with special needs. The organisation provides specialist equipment, arranges travel support, specialist services and activities for young people with severe learning disabilities and challenging behaviour in local communities in Neath, Port Talbot and Swansea. The organisation supports young people with learning difficulties and physical disabilities, and promotes the rights of individuals to be supported to reach their potential. They also actively support children and families in need as well as offering fun, choice and opportunity for the children and young people involved.

So what was going on in Gnoll Park? All kinds of activities with all kinds of challenges and all outdoors. The park was full of muddy, wet, happy young people having a fantastic time. They were doing assault courses, pulling rafts across the lake, going down zip wires and water slides and doing all kinds of activities. Each team of young people, and there were 400 or so young people involved that morning, (2,000 during the course of the week), earned points for taking part, completing things, answering questions and for getting the most soaked! Great stuff. All sorts of organisations are involved supporting the event. Police officers, firefighters, PCSOs, probation officers, volunteers, physiotherapists, nurses, teachers, youth workers, play workers, sports officers … the list goes on and on. All taking part in providing learning and fun activities.

I took a walk around the park to get a feel for the whole thing and to chat with the young people. In one stall – SNAP Cymru’s European Social Fund programme: ‘Diversity Challenge – a group of young people were standing in front of a table full of photos of famous people and celebrities. Each one of the people in the photographs had a disability. “So, which one of these people can’t see?” said the organiser. “Well, I think that must be Stevie Wonder” said someone at the front. “That’s right it’s Stevie Wonder but it hasn’t stopped him making some of the best music has it”. Everyone nodded. “Hold on a minute” said a lad to my left “what are disabled people anyway?” His mate turned round to him and said “That’s who we are!” “Oh, I see.” Laughter all round.

I spoke to lots of young people. All having a great time. I don’t know how many times I heard that doing things outdoors is “cool”, “brill”, “fun”, “exciting”, “mega”. But why is it so good? Well the best answer I heard was the one that went something like “Well, I have learned loads, I’m soaked to the skin, I’ve got mud in my tummy button and my wheelchair will need a bit of a clean … but who cares!”

I can’t speak highly enough about this event. It is brilliant to raise awareness about disability but also to see that barriers to involvement and participation can come crashing down. It is all about positive mental attitude and the positive energy this event generates speaks for itself.

Posted in Disabled Children and Young People, Participation, Play | Comments Off