As part of our advocacy, #OneAccesibility, we will share information about differently able and profile one location with accessible trails. Look out every week for this enlightening post.
Today I will bring to light an activity my children and their friends have recently taken up. Indoor rock and boulder climbing is fast becoming a very popular pastime for young and old in Sydney Australia. During my daughter’s recent visit to a local rock and boulder climbing centre, she noticed a man climbing with a prosthetic leg and was amazed at how easy he made it look. It made me wonder how an activity such as this can be adapted for people with various disabilities. I decided to look at some of the rock climbing centres in Australia and around the world to see if they offer these services at their venues.
Due to Australia’s current lockdown laws, most places are not offering all of their adaptive climbing services and events have all been put on hold.
Sport Climbing Victoria says, “Adaptive climbing is rock climbing that is adapted to the needs of the participant, for example using harnesses that offer upper body support or an extra pair of helping hands on the wall.”
Adaptive Climbing Victoria offers people living with a disability the opportunity to participate in indoor rock climbing no matter what their abilities are.
In my search for better understanding this sport and how it can be inclusive of everyone, I found this amazing video which describes Adaptive Climbing perfectly. It is a short documentary from the viewpoint of members at a rock climbing centre in Brooklyn, USA.
I also discovered a group called Adaptive Climbing Group who organise various adventure sports for people with disabilities in the USA. Indoor rock climbing was one of these sports, along with indoor skydiving, bungee jumping, scuba diving, go-karting, mountain biking, paragliding, and surfing. These are just some of the activities they offer. Other accessible adventure sports which are available in other parts of the world also include wheelchair skateboarding, hiking, and sailing, which is actually a Paralympic sport. That’s so cool!
This was a really interesting and eye opening topic for me to research and learn more about. I think I might join my kids when they go indoor rock and boulder climbing next so I can try it for myself. It looks like it’s a great sport for everyone.
These are the Australian Adventure Activity Standards (AAS) for Artificial Climbing Structures.
If you have a question, suggestion or contribution, feel free to comment below. You can read last week’s roundup here and check the list of our other articles under "Accessibility Uncovered".
