Announcement of the Latest Round of Funding from the Disability Swimming Fund
Swimming NZ is proud to be continuing their support for individuals living with a disability to access swimming, where we have been able to provide financial support to 28 successful applicants from across country as part of our latest round of our Disability Swimming Fund.
For those who don't know about our Disability Swimming Fund, it has been designed for individuals with a disability aged 6 - 24 years to open doors to the world of swimming. Whether it be acquiring adaptive equipment or specialised coaching, our aim has been to make swimming accessible for all.
We strongly believe that one of the most important life skills is learning to swim, and that it unlocks endless opportunities in and around the water, so this is one way we are looking to help people with a disability to Unlock Their Greatness in the water.
In the most recent round, we have been able to provide financial support to 28 successful applicants, which when combined with the 109 successful applicants from the round of funding shared in July earlier this year, we have contributed $30k to support people with a disability to access learn to swim lessons through the fund.
SNZ's Disability & Para Swimming Participation Manager, Cameron Leslie, acknowledges the importance of enabling swimming to be more accessible.
"Statistically, we know raising a child with a disability can be more expensive. We also know for those living with an impairment gaining water confidence or learning how to swim can take longer depending on the individual's impairment(s)."
This was the driving force behind developing the Disability Swimming Fund, to be a connector between the varying levels of learning to swim and participating in recreational and/or organised club swimming.
Leslie also noted that learning how to swim with an impairment can be really hard.
"As hard as it is to admit, sometimes having a swim school open to learn and work with a swimmer's impairment type can be hard. This fund and the success of it is proof and reassurance the learn to swim space is becoming more accessible - and if we can play a small part in supporting that then we are doing our bit."
Breakdown of Support per Region
We have been fortunate to receive applications from all across New Zealand. The breakdown of support for each region is:
Auckland | 14% (4) |
Hawke's Bay | 39% (11) |
Northland | 18% (5) |
Manawatu | 4% (1) |
Otago | 4% (1) |
Southland | 4% (1) |
Taranaki | 14% (4) |
Wellington | 4% (1) |
Breakdown of Impairment Types
We have also been able to support multiple impairment types in this round of the Disability Swimming Fund. A brief summary included 82% of recipients in this round have are part of the neuro-diverse community, 14% of recipients have a physical impairment, 11% of recipients have a visual impairment and 4% a hearing impairment.
A full breakdown is:
Autism | 54% (15) |
Intellectual Impairments | 18% (5) |
Physical Impairment | 14% (4) |
Down Syndrome | 11% (3) |
Vision Impairment | 11% (3) |
Hearing Impairment | 4% (1) |
Other | 4% (1) |
Leslie has been grateful to the families who have been previously supported from this fund for the support we have provided.
"We constantly receive positive feedback from whanau. Not only is a fund like this rare, but it has the participant at its centre - we want to encourage and support whanau not make it harder. For our neuro-diverse community, there are very few (if any) sporting funds available to assist them. So we get heaps of positive feedback from whanau in that space around their appreciation and acknowledgment of an impairment which is often not seen."
We look forward to hearing how the latest funding support helps these 28 successful applicants have a positive experience in the water.
If you'd like to learn more about the programmes and support we are offering to swimmers with a disability, please check out our:
We'd love to be able to support more people with a disability to access learning to swim in 2025. If you're interested in supporting us in the delivery of this fund by contributing funds, please reach out to us via emailing dsf@swimming.org.nz
Learning to swim and being active in the water is one of the most important life skills you can gain. To find your local pool or Swim School, please use our finder function on our:
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