Free surfing sessions in Scarborough for young people with disabilities
The Wave Project is holding an event tomorrow
A charity is launching free surfing sessions in Scarborough for children and young people with disabilities and mental health needs.
The Wave Project is offering the chance to experience what it is like to be out at sea using adaptive equipment tomorrow (Saturday 8th July) on the South Bay.
Joe Taylor, Chief Executive, said: "We use surfing as a form of therapy to help them to feel more positive and confident. It's a great way, whether you have a disability or not, to resetting your mental health and wellbeing, getting into the water, catching waves and being around other people who are supportive and positive. There's loads of evidence that it's just good for your mental health so we've certainly found that with the work we've done.
"For example, if someone has got cerebral palsy and can't move their arms or legs, it's quite difficult to get into a wet suit because you need to have quite a lot of strength to push your arms through, so an adaptive wetsuit zips up and zips down. It enables that person to get into a wetsuit more easily and in a more dignified kind of way to be able to take part in surfing or being in the sea.
"We have big foam boards with handles on them so that people who have mild to moderate physical disabilities can still surf unaided. They might not be able to, for example, grip the sides of the board or put their hands flat as you would need to do in surfing, so the handles are there to keep them in the right place so they get the experience of going for a surf."