Accessible winter sports
Winter sports are an activity that
everyone enjoys. Over the years winter sports have become more and more
accessible to people with disabilities. New equipment gets invented often to
enable people with differing abilities to enjoy the snow. Equipment could be anything from a piloted
tandem ski to mono or dual sitskis, to special ice hockey sledges. There's even
a vertiski that enables paraplegics to stand while skiing.
Accessible winter sports are
practiced at both the Paralympics (for people with a physical impairment), and
the Special Olympics (for people with intellectual disabilities). When you’re
not a professional athlete you can still enjoy the snow.
A growing amount of ski resorts
are recognising that families or groups of friends should have the possibility
to enjoy a holiday in the mountains together, even when one of them has a
disability of life-challenging illness.
There are many different types of
accessible winter sports. Some of these disciplines are:
Sit skiing
Alpine skiing can be enjoyed by people with various disabilities. There is many different types of sit skies that allows a person to sit down whilst skiing, to make the sport more accessible.
A disabled skier coming
down the mountain
A mono sitski
Adaptive Snowboarding
Adaptive snowboarding is quite a new type of sports that is increasing in popularity. There is many different ways in which a snowboard can be adapted to different people’s needs.
An example of an adapted snowboard
Nordic / Cross Country Skiing
Cross country skiing can be enjoyed sitting down or standing up. It is one of the most intense winter sports there is. Many hand-cyclists, sledge hockey players, and other athletes with disabilities use a cross-country sit-ski to increase their physical conditioning.
A cross country skier on a specially designed sitski
Ice sledge hockey / Para ice hockey
Ice hockey is a competitive team sport. It can be played with adapted sit-down sledges in which players can move around the rink using special sticks.
A ice sledge hockey player in
action
Wheelchair curling
Curling is a great winter sport for people with a range of disabilities and
mobility issues. It is a game of strategy, concentration, focus and
coordination an it can help to build upper body strength. Curling is very
well-suited for wheelchair users. In England there is only one ice rink dedicated
to this sport, whereas Scotland has 22 rinks with the facilities for the game
Wheelchair curling being practiced
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