New research has found that a greater number of children with disabilities in Aberdeen are learning to swim through inclusion in mainstream classes.
A report by Scottish Swimming has revealed that all children with disabilities at Aberdeen Amateur Swimming Club (ASC) and 77% of children with additional support requirements in Sport Aberdeen attend mainstream classes.
This not only develops their swimming ability but also enhances their confidence, social skills and communication.
It is hoped that even more children with disabilities will be encouraged to learn to swim through a new Scottish Swimming inclusion campaign called #SeeMyAbility.
The National Learn to Swim Framework is a partnership between Scottish Swimming and Scottish Water.
It is delivered across 12 pools in Aberdeen by Sport Aberdeen, Aberdeen Sports Village and Aberdeen ASC.
The initiative aims to ensure children of all abilities can become confident, competent and safer swimmers.
Dianne Breen, coached programmes manager at Sport Aberdeen, said: “We have increased the number of children with disabilities in mainstream lesson from 166 to 184 since the start of the summer as a result of our inclusion work which is fantastic and we very much support the #SeeMyAbility campaign.”
Euan Lowe, chief executive of Scottish Swimming added: “Scottish Swimming’s vision is ‘everyone can swim’ and learning to swim is an activity for all regardless of ability or disability, and the whole swimming pathway can be taught in an inclusive way.”
The report by Scottish Swimming also revealed that 84% of children with disabilities on Live Argyll’s Learn to Swim programme attend mainstream classes.
Robert Judge, area operations manager at Live Argyll, said: “We are delighted to support the #SeeMyAbility campaign and are pleased that 84% of children with disabilities in our learn to swim programme are in mainstream classes.”
Learn to Swim ambassador and World Para Swimming World Champion Toni Shaw said: “It’s great to develop as a swimmer and be seen beyond my disability. This has enabled me integrate into a performance environment where I get to train alongside other world-class athletes.”
