My Team during the mountain biking event in Valberg
The above picture shows me tackling a Tibetan Bridge during the Via Ferrata - there was a 250m drop and yes I was scared!!
What made me join the 2006 Ability Challenge? Honestly? Via Ferrata! When I saw an article on The Times saying that participants would do a Via Ferrata I said to my self “ok that’s it!” without giving it any other thought as to what it involved.
So I went to RTH for the first meeting, where I met some of the prospective participants very much like what you are doing today. As soon as I set foot into the Razzett, I started to think to myself “ok, can I handle this?”
As an able bodied person with a sense of adventure I was very much up for the via ferrata and other challenging activities but in all honestly I had never had any direct contact with a person with a disability – I did not know what to do, how to approach the situation.
When you start thinking you say to yourself, how can I possibly assist someone with a disability cross a rope bridge hanging over a drop of 250 metres, when probably I, with all my adventurous spirit, be probably scared too!
However a lot of these fears were soon overcame, when we started meeting for training, getting to know all the members in the team and seeing the enthusiasm that the participants had to do this Challenge.
In my team we had Leon, a visually impaired guy with a great sense of humour, as you will probably see in the feature we will show you. Leon put himself in our hands, completely trusted us to guide him throughout the different activities and completed each and every event like everyone of us!
This is what makes the Ability Challenge special – its not just about personal satisfaction but that of helping a person with a disability enjoy the same experience as us and giving the him the possibility to say I did that – give them a boost of confidence that will give them a “can do” attitude which will help them push themselves a bit further in life!.
