Leading Hazel off the sidelines and onto the ski slopes

People might not expect Hazel, who is blind and living with complex needs, to enjoy skiing – but it’s an activity she absolutely loves!

Tracey, who supports Hazel at Sense TouchBase South East, knew that enabling her to take on this “sensory explosion” would give her confidence in her own abilities and a way to connect with new people.

Hazel is a lot of fun. She’s got an amazing imagination and the warmest smile. Because she’s blind and disabled, there have been times in her life when she has felt a bit isolated and maybe hasn’t had opportunities to join in activities. But at Sense, we don’t believe anyone should be boxed in by beliefs about ability.

If we had that attitude, Hazel never would have started skiing!

Descriptive transcript of Hazel's video

A close up of Hazel’s face. Her ski instructor, James, stands behind her asking her if she’s ready.

James: You ready? Roll!

Hazel and the man ski down the slope. Hazel is laughing and screaming. Tracey claps at the bottom of the slope as she meets them.

Tracey: That was brilliant. Yay!

Voiceover from Tracey, Sense support worker

We brought Hazel here about six months ago, and she didn’t like coming in, she didn’t like the cold, she didn’t like the snow. If we’d have given up on her, she’d just all been sitting in the day center and like not experiencing this sensory explosion she had.

Hazel: Look we’re skiing, look we’re skiing!

Tracy, Sense support worker, is talking to the interviewer with the ski slope behind her.

Hazel is 38 year old lady. She’s blind and she’s got special needs. Things like this is good for Hazel, because she can sometimes feel a bit isolated from everybody else. Nothing worse than feeling like left out.

With Sense that we believe is a can do attitude. It’s just a different way of looking at it. We’ve brought her in, she touched the snow, and then the next step, basically was her just touching the sit ski, and then getting to sit in it. And now, as you can see, she’s really confident in the snow.

Hazel and James, her ski instructor are at the top of the slope.

James: Are you ready Haze?

Hazel: yeah!

Voiceover from James, ski instructor, as Hazel skis down the slope.

James: I think the sessions have been amazing for Hazel in terms of how she’s grown from being in a position where she didn’t even want to step onto the snow to what we saw today, going 25 miles an hour, giggling down a slope, doing these activities, hopefully has given her confidence that she can take into other aspects of her life,

Tracy is talking to the interviewer with the ski slope behind her.

Tracy: And she’s really involved in the whole thing. Just because she can’t see doesn’t mean to say she can’t feel it.

Hazel: I like coming down the slope and feeling the snow.

James and Hazel are skiing again

James:  I can see Tracy at the bottom.

James talks to the interviewer

James: It’s unlikely Hazel would have found snow sports without Sense. So for Hazel and people with complex disabilities, it’s amazing that they get the opportunity to try snow sports.

We see Hazel’s face close up again as she finishes skiing.

James: Haze, you were superstar.

Hazel: Thank you

James: You’re amazing.

The Sense logo appears.

Sense, no one left out of life. Sense.org.uk.

We know how much Hazel likes being active. Over the years, she’s danced, trampolined and played sensory tennis at her day centre. She’s always up for learning new skills in that space. When the opportunity arose for her to try skiing at a snow centre in Hemel Hempstead, with support from a Disability Snowsport UK (DSUK) adaptive ski instructor, we knew she’d enjoy it.

Skills to help her in the future

Travel is quite a big thing for Hazel. It’s something that makes her very anxious. Her support workers and her parents know that Hazel can be quite challenging when it comes to getting in a vehicle, and that’s a shame because it limits her life.

This was a big barrier for Hazel to overcome. When we started coming to The Snow Centre, she didn’t want to get into the minibus. But with support and patience, she’s overcome every fear.

Hazel needs to try new things. Sport improves confidence, family life, social skills – everything. Now she’s got this can-do attitude, which is brilliant. That’s really going to help her in the future, improving her life by making her more open to learning new skills, travelling with her family, and meeting new people.

It’s unlikely Hazel would’ve found snow sports without Sense and the specialist ski instructor from DSUK. It’s amazing that Sense has given Hazel the opportunity to try this. Her family are really really happy that she’s doing this.

Sports are a way for Hazel to prove how amazing she is

Hazel’s first few sessions were really exploratory. We just very calmly brought her into the vehicle, drove quite slowly and to gradually introduced her to The Snow Centre. It was quite a new sensory experience – the cold, the snow and the voice of someone new, her adaptive ski instructor, James.

After that, the next step was to encourage her to touch the sit ski and then to get on. Week by week she got braver until we went down a small slope – James holding on to her and me running next to her holding her hand.

That’s how we’ve worked it up. Now, she’s crunching through the snow, whizzing over the bumps and feeling the air rush past her – it’s a real sensory explosion, she’s so immersed in it. You can tell Hazel loves it; she’s laughing and smiling the whole time, it’s just fantastic. By giving her the confidence to keep coming, to continue, and to improve, she’s been able to prove to everyone how amazing she is!

The joy on Hazel’s face, the giggles on the last day, it proves that snow sports can be accessible for all. If it’s safe and they’ve got the support, anyone can do it. Just because she can’t see it doesn’t mean she can’t feel it.

If we give up on disabled people with complex needs, we risk leaving them sitting on the side-lines and not experiencing these amazing things. She’s better for it – everyone’s better for it, because they’re seeing how much she’s capable of.