AUSTSWIM celebrates a decade of its MATE accessibility workshops

Water safety advocates are celebrating a decade of redesigning diversity in the aquatic industry with the AUSTSWIM Making Aquatics A Terrific Experience (MATE) workshop - which has increased accessibility of water activities for the disabled and injured.

Quadrupling course numbers and, for the first time this year, now being offered nationally, MATE workshops provide participants with the information, skills and confidence to take a person with a medical condition and/or disability to the pool.

AUSTSWIM Ambassador and Olympic swimmer Brooke Hanson, who helped launch the MATE Program 10 years ago, said the aim remained the same - to make access to aquatics easier for people living with a disability, medical condition or injury.

Hanson commented “with one in six people in Australia now living with a disability, the need for the program is greater than ever.

“The workshops give people the information, skills, and confidence to allow a person under their care to enjoy the water. There are so many developmental, physical, psychological, and emotional impacts swimming provides. Being in the water is a very levelling experience and this program promotes accessibility and encourages people to participate more in the aquatic industry.

“There will be close to 60 courses available across the country in 2022, adding to the hundreds and hundreds of people AUSTSWIM has already helped foster their love of the water since the program was created in 2012.”

Kids Alive Managing Director, Emma Lawrence said the MATE program had been instrumental in helping more Australians enjoy the water and ensure families were safer in the water.

Lawrence explained “we fully endorse AUSTSWIM’s MATE program as we personally know family members, carers, disability leaders, team leaders and early childcare educators that have completed the program and it has enabled them to help young people they support discover a sense of freedom by being in the water more often.

“This program helps fulfill the cycle of water safety and education that is imperative to making people more confident and safer in the water, and thus impacting drowning statistics.”

Car crash survivor Ella Anwar knows the healing power that water has for people with a disability or injury. Two years ago, at the age of 20, she had an horrific car crash and suffered a major brain injury, with doctors saying she would never have mobility or communicate again.

Anwar advised “the doctors told my Mum I only had a 10 percent chance of survival, so it’s a miracle I’m here but getting in the water again made all the difference to my healing and has been one of the main reasons my injuries keep improving. It’s really changed my life.”

Before the accident Anwar was a swim teacher at Laurie Lawrence’s Swim School (LLSS) at Burleigh on the Gold Coast, she was an avid surfer and loved being in the water.

She recalls “the minute my parents got me home they put me in the water again and it was amazing what happened. I could do things in the water that I couldn’t do on land. I was swimming all the strokes four months after my injury yet I couldn’t talk or walk yet.

“I could kick my legs in the water and it felt so good to move again! It made me feel free to be in the water and it really helped me feel better again. It gave me hope for the future and what I could do again and that I could one day resume my career as a swim instructor.”

As well as her home pool, Anwar and her family regularly visit LLSS where she has been helping shadow fellow teachers in learn to swim classes preparing for her return as a teacher, but more incredibly using her skills to help her 8 month old daughter, Laia to swim.

“My dream is to get back into swim teaching when my daughter is older but the most incredible thing is being able to teach her to swim myself and be with her in the water. We love going to the pool. We get to see friends, have fun in the pool with other kids and Mums. I feel the happiest when I am at the pool and with Laia. I am so passionate about the importance of learning to swim and water safety. It’s a vital life skill for everyone. We love it”

Anwar said the AUSTSWIM Mates Program was so important because it helped people with a disability or injury like herself get back in the water, adding “water was my saviour after my accident and I never realised how much of a major part it would play in my life.

“Being in the water made my come back on land so much easier and gave me back independence. I’m in the pool every day now at home or at the local pool with Laurie, Emma, and the other teachers there.”

People can find their nearest MATE course by visiting www.austswim.com and using the course finder.

Image: AUSTSWIM ambassador Brooke Hanson with participants at MATE disability accessibility workshop. Credit: AUSTSWIM.