About Us

What it means...
"Thirty feet below the water cruising among shoals of grouper, clown fish, delicately drawn angel fish, wrasse and rays, turtles and tuna. I had always wanted to try scuba. Its almost ironic that it was only after I became paralysed that I got the opportunity."

That quote sums up Sportability. The charity has one aim – to provide sport and challenging pursuits for people with paralysis. People with conditions such as spinal cord injury, stroke, MS, cerebral palsy and others, are able to participate in a variety of sports - scuba diving, sailing, canoeing, archery, angling, abseiling, quad-biking, gliding, clay pigeon shooting, and more.

It’s not about creating elite sportsmen and women. It is about the adrenaline rush, putting the buzz back into a life corralled by the wheelchair, taking the 'dis' out of disability and focusing on ability. To inspire the thought, "If I can do this, what else can I achieve?"

Taking it to the Nation
A couple of years ago there was new drive and dynamism to the charity with the expansion from it's then sole operating base in Gloucestershire to provide a full calendar of events in the Midlands, East Anglia and South London.
 
Since then working with local sponsors, Sportability has been able to bring new opportunities to many more people with paralysis.

The southwest had had a new lease of life with Area Organisers Chris and Jayne Selway introducing sailing and blo-karting to the usual suspects of quad-biking, archery and falconry.  We hope to add shooting this year.

In the Midlands the main sponsor is the specialist personal injury law firm, Nottingham based Barratts. They not only donated cash, but supported a successful appeal to Sportsmatch, the Government's sponsorship incentive scheme.  That saw the successful launch of a programme of events that included archery, canoeing and quadbiking.  That has expanded to take in sailing, clay pigeon shooting, and - wait for it - snow mobiling.  But there's more to come with fishing, go-karting, gliding and ten pin bowling planned in the year ahead.

Surrey comes in for the third year with quad-biking, archery, clay pigeon shooting, falconry and sailing. This season should see us adding gliding.

Dorset & Hants kicked off with quad-biking, archery and clay pigeon shooting, then we added canoeing and sailing.  Now, there's sea-sailing and plans for gliding and scuba diving.

The 2008 season is set to bring more of these wonderful activities to even more people. Areas under review include Kent, with sailing and archery, the North-west (Manchester/Liverpool)with sailing, quad-biking, clay pigeon shooting and archery, the North-east (Tyneside)  and the home counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire.

And all the events are totally free to people with paralysis. That's the cost to any person with any form of paralysis. Nothing, nada, zilch. All Sportability's events are available free of charge. We don't want any barriers to participation.

Why do we do it? If we can help just one person, perhaps someone currently lying in a hospital bed thinking life has to come to an end, to turn back on to a life worth living, we will have succeeded.

Sportability is dedicated to re-building those lives shattered by paralysis.