ASA helps develop resource for teaching visually impaired swimmers
World Sight Day is an annual event which focuses on raising awareness of blindness and visual impairment, held this year on the 9 October. According to the RNIB there are 360,000 registered as blind in the UK and over two million who are living with sight loss and visual impairment.
The ASA has teamed up with British Blind Sport, Action for Blind People, British Swimming and New College Worcester and College for the Blind to create a resource which helps to support visually impaired people in the pool.
The resource is aimed at swimming facilities and leisure centres, providers of learn to swim programmes and swimming clubs and should help to give them the power to increase visually impaired people’s participation in swimming.
Visual impairment is used to describe people who have some form of sight loss; generally they are either partially sighted or blind. Depending on the level of impairment and the length of time the individual has had the impairment can have very different effects on how they develop psychologically and emotionally.
The positive benefits of taking part in sports such as swimming for those with visual impairments are often underestimated, but it brings many opportunities including confidence, developing socially through new friendship groups and providing many important health benefits.
The resource that is available here will enable parents/carers, coaches and teachers to;
- Apply the knowledge they have to meet the specific needs of those with visual impairment
- Better understand the needs of those who have a visual impairment
- Better understand how to use basic communication skills to support people who have a visual impairment.
- Give information as to where more information can be obtained to further support and the accessibility of clubs and facilities to those who are visually impaired.
Just small changes can enable a teacher or coach to better include those with a visual impairment in mainstream swimming lessons.
Also many of the pieces of advice included in the resource will be beneficial for improving teaching to all swimmers in a class, not just those who are visually impaired.
