Family photoLearning to swim is something many disabled children enjoy – but one mother described how her son was made to feel unwelcome at the pool.
Jamie, seven, who is autistic, now attends a specialist centre in Newport, with its survey finding 81% of parents struggled getting suitable lessons at a local pool.
A new plan to enhance the rights of disabled people, which will be published shortly, is looking at all aspects of people’s lives, from independent living to travel.
The Welsh government said it was focused on removing barriers and creating lasting improvements for disabled people.
“I explained his needs at booking and prior to his first lesson in depth,” Hannah said about her experience with son Jamie.
“But the instructor was unaware of them when we turned up at the lesson.
“We were made to feel quite unwelcome.
“It was isolating to us as a family.”
Jamie is non-verbal and has high care and support needs.
While she had signed him up to lessons for children with additional needs, when she arrived, she said instructors were not prepared.
“It was another door being shut in our face, and I just want Jamie and children with similar needs to have the same life experience and learn the same skills that their peers would learn,” she added.
This an area in which the system is failing, campaigners say, in offering swimming lessons to children who are disabled.
Learning to swim is now the highlight of Jamie’s week at the Serennu Centre in Newport.
The children get the specialist help and support they need, which can be intensive – sometimes more than one instructor per child is needed.
The lessons are run by a charity called Sparkle – last year it surveyed the families of these young people and found 81% said they had chosen the venue after having problems getting lessons at a local leisure centre.
It has not been without challenges, but Ross also described how 10-year-old Gethin, who has autism non-verbal sensory processing disorder, benefits from the Serennu Centre.
“We’ve gone from Gethin not putting his face in the water to Gethin now being willing to jump into the deep end of the pool, with support, something we wouldn’t even have dreamt of,” he said.
“So he just needs that support.”
A Disability Rights Taskforce has been looking at a whole range of issues relating to the lives of people with disabilities in Wales.
These include access to services, independent living, social care, health, travel, employment, and housing, as well as the rights of children.
Its report will form the basis of a Disability Rights Action Plan which will be published by ministers in the next few weeks.
But the Conservative MS Mark Isherwood, who chairs the cross party Senedd group on disabilities, said he was not convinced the plan would lead to real and lasting change.
“The problem as always is how will this be monitored?” he said.
“How will it be evaluated?
“Will the Welsh government intervene when it’s misunderstood or not implemented, as happens with so much else affecting, as in this context, disabled children.
“There’s got to be teeth to this.”
Family photoA new front in the fight for disabled rights was opened this week with the announcement by UK government Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall of cuts to welfare payments to encourage people into jobs.
The Chief Executive of Disability Wales Rhian Davies said that was counterproductive and would do more harm than good.
“Just by cutting the meagre support often that disabled people do get does not mean that disabled people will then be able to somehow miraculously get a job,” she said.
“We need to be looking at employment policy, employer attitudes and we need to be addressing access to transport.”
The Welsh government said: “Our 10-year plan for disabled people’s rights will be published for public consultation in the coming weeks, focusing on removing barriers and creating lasting improvements for disabled people in Wales.
“We’ll establish a new independent advisory board to monitor and evaluate its progress.”
