| Assoc. of Wheelchair Children |
AWC is a specialist national charity providing expert mobility training and advice to wheelchair-using children and their families across the UK and Ireland. We teach children useful, practical skills, such as the management of kerbs, slopes and steps enabling them to move safely and confidently about their homes and neighbourhood. All our courses are free of charge.
Therapy Manager Roy Wild - “It was great having Ade come along to our course, he is a great inspiration to a lot of young wheelchair users. The kids were enthralled watching Ade demonstrate his skills in his basketball chair. He also joined in with some games including Wheelchair British Bulldog and a modified version of basketball (using a soft ball and parents as catchers, instead of the basket). Ade was one of the first children to learn mobility skills from AWC, back in the 1980’s and it is wonderful to see what a success he has become. Ade was given an MBE in the 2005 honours list.”
AWC North has courses planned in Northern Ireland, Southport, Redcar, Chesterfield, Manchester, Scottish borders, Bala and Hull. For details of these courses, or to request a course, please contact Roy Wild on 0870 121 0055 or email website:wheelchairchildren.org.uk For details of courses in the south of England call head office on 0870 121 0050 or email |
AWC has two training teams one based
in London and one (AWC North) in East Yorkshire. To help highlight the work of
AWC North, BBC presenter and Wheelchair basketball player Ade Adepitan joined us
at a recent course in Manchester.
AWC run courses for young people up to
the age of 18 and have worked with children as young as 2. We usually run a
manual wheelchair course over 2 days and we bring extra wheelchairs along so
that parents and siblings can join in with the games. We cover road safety, kerb
work, slopes, emergency evacuation procedures, and an introduction to wheelchair
sports. The courses are aimed at the more active, independent wheelchair user,
but we have worked with children with a wide range of abilities and find that
there is something in the course for everyone. We have even started including an
element of wheelchair dance in the courses.
AWC also runs courses for powered
chair users, professional’s workshops (for those working with young people
with disabilities) and wheelchair awareness training in mainstream schools.
