Skating programs for disabled people?

[Neverdull44]

When skating at other rinks, I remember a coach or two who would specifically work with children/adults who had disabilities.   Some were physical, and included a boy with a prosthesis.   Some had cognitive or emotional disorders.  They were learning to figure skate, doing mohawks and spins and basic jumps.  I wish I had spent more time with them, but other than giving them a high five I didn't interact much.  The coaches kept these kids off to her own.

My current rink and club seems to be doing nothing to help disabled skaters.  Another local rink has activities for amputees, playing sled hockey.

What are some things I can do or need to know before trying to launch any type of suggestion for having the rink open to disabled skaters and children.

Yesterday, i went to a shoe store.  They asked me for $3 to help a local skate park (skateboarding) with a disabled skater program. I asked more detail and it was mainly autistic kids.   I thought it was a great idea and I gave money.  I bet I could get this funded because there is a also very wealthy local charities I know of that have millions to give to children projects.  Since our local figure skating club is a 501(c)(3), could I run the disabled program through the club?  Is that done, or would the club scoff at the idea?

Mod note: topic moved to On The Boards forum.

[davincisop]

Gliding Stars.

My rink in Orlando has it. It's a fantastic program for children and adults with disabilities of all kinds. From children who are in wheelchairs for life (they use special walkers that they sit in and hockey guys push them around on the ice) to kids that have ADD, it caters to all of them.

http://www.glidingstars.org/

[davincisop]

Also I think I might know of the rink you mentioned with sled hockey. They were starting it at my old rink, but I was at another close to me a while back and saw a guy practicing it on ice. It was really neat to see.

[AgnesNitt]

My rink doesn't have it, but there are rinks north of us that do.
My coach has an autistic skater. Wow, after 6 months on ice he's like a completely different kid.

[jbruced]

I would suggest that you become familiar with the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA. Once you know what is in it look over your rink and see if it appears to be in full compliance from a facilities perspective. Businesses who are not in full compliance can get into real trouble if they get reported. Compliance can be pretty costly if the building or facilities are old or predate the ADA. If the rink seems to be in compliance I would then discuss your idea with the rink management or owners. There may be additional issues with insurance and other issues you may be unaware of. If the rink ownership/management is agreeable to your idea then I would discuss it with the club. This ADA stuff is an area to tread carefully in.

[Neverdull44]

I was just looking at the ADA, Fair Housing, and also Florida's piggy back laws this morning, but with the angle of parking.   I think the building is probably ADA compliant, but that the issue is going to be liability insurance.  If the rink were county or state owned, then there would be caps on the amount the building owner (i.e. gov't) would be possibly liable.  Once again, we've regulated ourselves out of a potentially win-win idea.

[jbruced]

It would be worth investigating the liability insurance issue. It may not be as cost prohibitive as thought. It may be possible to have the people participating in the programs to cover the cost or help defray the cost. There may be charity groups related to any given disability or special need classification that would be willing to help with the additional insurance cost. Other respondents have noted that they know of rinks with these types of programs. Maybe contacting those rinks would help you find more information.

[rd350]

I would definitely contact rinks that do it already and ask how they got started.  Parkwood in Great Neck, NY has a program.

[Neverdull44]

Hi, I have a call in and am waiting on return.   I am going to try.  The worst that can happen is that people say, "No", which isn't the worst thing in the world.

[Query]

There are many different types of handicap, with different needs. A little specificity wouldn't hurt.

I've personally seen someone practice sled hockey. It looked fun. But it might not be safe on a crowded public session.

And I saw a blind person skate at a community rink in Florida - everybody knew him and stayed out of the way.

I've also known a coach who specialized in training people for the Special Olympics

  http://www.specialolympics.org/Common/Special_Olympics_A_to_Z.aspx

who has students with problems like M.S.

I guess you know that the USFS has various handicap programs, e.g.,

https://www.usfigureskating.org/Content/Special%20Olympics%20and%20Therapeutic%20Skating%20Manual.pdf

And the USFS Basic Skills Instructors manual has classes related to "Therapeutic Skating".

If you search the usfsa.org site for "handicap" and "handicapped" mentions, there are a lot of them, e.g.,

  http://everyoneoutdoors.blogspot.com/2012/01/adaptive-ice-skating-techniques.html

Maybe you can look for "adaptive skating" links too.

The ISI has this link

Skating Association for the Blind & Handicapped (SABAH)

but I don't know anything about them.

The truth is, some of us feel very handicapped for figure skating, because we aren't flexible enough. 

I do know that some group lesson instructors like me who have tried, without suitable training, to handle handicapped skaters (e.g., kids with ADHD and kids who were crack babies) with "normals" in the same class, find that very hard.

[Neverdull44]

Yes, I know a coach who was involved with disabled, and told me about skating for blind.  They kept the skaters toward the center of the ice and had monitors if they went to far close to the boards.   Skaters had to count steps.  They did spirals and spins, which I thought was absolutely incredible.

[rd350]

Yup and if you don't ask you never have the opportunity to hear YES!

[littlerain]

One of the rinks in my area also has a "special skater" class. I saw a newspaper article about it. If you want to contact them, it's glacier ice in vernon hills, il!