Call to send disabled children to mainstream swimming
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PARENTS in Elgin are being encouraged to send children with disabilities to mainstream swimming lessons.
Scottish Swimming has launched its #SeeMyAbility campaign to get parents to talk more openly about their children’s disabilities and encourage them to sign their children up for classes, stressing that swimming is a life skill.
Scottish Swimming and Scottish Water – who are partners in Learn to Swim – provide a progressive pathway for children with physical, sensory and learning impairments.
The programme is delivered by aquatic providers across Scotland and locally by Moray Leisure.
The campaign was launched by Learn to Swim ambassador and medal-winning para-athlete Toni Shaw, who came through a mainstream Learn to Swim programme before joining Cults Otters swimming club in Aberdeen.
Paul Wilson, of Scottish Swimming, said: "The whole swimming pathway can be taught in an inclusive way.
"Swimming is an important life skill and can be great fun in a group environment. This should be no different for a child with a disability."
John Duguid, a manager at Moray Leisure, said: "We teach all children in an inclusive way at Moray Leisure and it is great to get these additional resources to support our swimming teachers as we continue to grow our programme."
Moray Leisure delivers the Learn to Swim programme, teaching children from birth upwards.
Toni said: "I’m really proud to be an ambassador for the Learn to Swim Framework and really pleased that children with a disability are taught in inclusive Learn to Swim environments. If there’s someone with a disability and the swimming teachers are aware of the impairment the lessons can be adapted.
"It’s great to develop as a swimmer and be seen beyond my disability. This has helped me integrate into a performance environment where I get to train alongside other world-class athletes."
More information is available at www.learntoswim.scot.
