The Manchester Climbing Centre is at the forefront of developing the climbing skills of the blind and visually impaired.
Blind Awareness Training is one element of staff training at the Manchester Climbing Centre (MCC), and is delivered by Lyn Garside and Pete Ottewell from Galloways Society for the Blind.
Arising from this came the idea of looking at whether blind and visually impaired climbers could participate in the National Indoor Climbing Achievement Scheme (NICAS).
Lyn and Pete came with a group of 6 blind and visually impaired people, in order to assess how the NICAS could work with such people.
The group varied from individuals with residual sight in both eyes, to very minimal vision in one eye and those with no vision since birth. The group had a great time, with Mike, who is totally blind, topping out and saying that he could not wait to get leading!
The session was a resounding success; so much so that the group members have now completed NICAS Level One and are hoping to follow the scheme through to completion at Level Five. MCC Technical Advisor Ian Fenton, who set up the day, said, “Just as with many other activities, a disability should not be see as a barrier to participation in climbing."
John Dunne, MCC MD and NICAS trustee, is looking at how the specialist resources required, devised in collaboration with Galloways Society for the Blind, could be made nationally available.
For those interested in working with disabled climbers, the Mountain Leader Training England booklet
Climbing For All: Disability Awareness in Rock Climbing is available from our online shop.
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