PARENTS in Edinburgh are being encouraged to send children with disabilities to swimming lessons as it is a life skill.
Scottish Swimming has launched its #SeeMyAbility campaign to get parents to talk more openly about their child’s disability and encourage them to put their children into mainstream swimming classes.
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 Edinburgh Leisure.
Paul Wilson, Disability Performance Development Manager, Scottish Swimming said: “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.
“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.”
As part of the campaign, swimming teachers and coaches will be provided with a resource toolkit that will help them teach and coach in an inclusive way throughout the whole aquatic pathway from Learn to Swim through to clubs and at the performance level.
Angela McCowan, Aquatics Manager at Edinburgh Leisure, said: “We teach all children in an inclusive way at Edinburgh Leisure and it is great to get these additional resources to support our swimming teachers as we continue to grow our programme.”
Edinburgh Leisure delivers the Learn to Swim programme at 10 pools across the city, teaching children from birth upwards.
More information on the National Learn to Swim Framework and #SeeMyAbility can be found on the dedicated website: www.learntoswim.scot
