Disability and drowning: Personal experiences, research, and practicalities of adapted aquatics

One in every fifty individuals is born with a physical or intellectual disability which will potentially modify his or her life. A fulfilled life includes opportunities for swimming, sailing, boating, and other aquatic sports. There is a potential of increased risks of drowning if children born with a physical or intellectual dis-ability participate in such water sports. These risks are potential, but ought not be realized. A mainstream responsibility (and challenge) for all involved in aquatic professions is to maximize the opportunities for aquatic experiences among indi-viduals with disabilities without also allowing the potential risks to translate into drowning or other serious injuries. Three key themes for the inclusion of individual children and adults with disabilities are “respect, relationships, and opportunity.” In this paper, we describe experiences with adapted aquatics for children with uncontrolled epilepsy and other disabilities who nevertheless can participate in aquatic experiences and sports with vigor, yet with safety. Our personal experi-ence of children who do not meet traditional safety criteria is such that aquatic participation is still possible with extra supervisory provision.