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Golf - Horse Riding - Waterskiiing - Skiing - Paddling -Shooting -Cycling -Fishing |
OUTDOOR SPORT FOR DISABLED PEOPLE
There are 600 million disabled people in the world and in the past very few outdoor sporting activities were available to them. Disabled people, just like the rest of us, need the thrill and enjoyment that outdoor sport can provide. With awareness, technological advances as well as the help of willing volunteers, more activities are becoming available. If you know of anywhere that provides outdoor sporting activities for the disabled or adaptive sports equipment, please email us and we will include a link to their website.
Listings for Outdoor Sport for Disabled People
 Riding for the Disabled
Horse riding is a wonderful experience and benefits the rider both physically and mentally. Therapeutic benefits include improved balance, posture, co-ordination as well as more supple and relaxed muscles. This in turn reduces muscle spasms.
Regaining mobility, with the challenge of learning something new along with a slight risk element provides a real sense of achievement. Independence and confidence grow along with the pure enjoyment of riding. For those who want to go further there are competitions and if riding is not an option there is always carriage driving. |
Fishing
Fishing is very popular within the disabled community and it is easy to see why. It provides a great opportunity to enjoy being outside in a healthy environment. In the UK alone there are over 54,00 disabled people holding a fishing licence and over 1000 of those fish
competitively.
The BDAA - British Disabled Angling Association has proven that fishing increases attention spans, offers social inclusion, sense of achievement & motor skills development.
In recent years many fisheries have improved access with better platform designs, pathways and car parking. There is more than just coarse fishing though and game fishing, sports fishing and sea fishing are now available to the disabled angling. |
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 Cycling
The benefits of cycling are the same for a disabled person as they are for an able bodied. Its fun - it promotes physical and mental well being and for the disabled person there is the addition of
independent mobility. First time riders describe it as - exhilarating, empowering, challenging. There are many adaptive cycles available:-
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Hand Crank - allows wheelchair users to power themselves by hand.
Side by Sides - allowing people with mobility difficulties to cycle with support from another cyclist.
Trikes - many types are available allows people with mobility difficulties to cycle without having to balance.
Tandems - the well known tandem allows partially sighted and blind users to cycle with a sighted partner |
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Other Sports
Cycling, riding and fishing may well be the commonest sports that disabled people participate in, but there are plenty of others to be considered. Waterskiiing is becoming very popular as is skiing on snow. Shooting and archery have always been available but there are many new sports opening up to the disabled person as new adaptive equipment is becoming available. There are quite a number of golf clubs which now have specially adaptive golf carts . For the paddler, like the cyclist, there is a range of adaptive equipment to suit various disabilities. Other sporting activities include scuba diving, sailing and flying.
  
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