Teaching water safety and ensuring that no family misses out on its benefits are two key elements of the ‘Ability Friendly Swimming Programme’ introduced by Qatar Foundation (QF) in January 2019, as highlighted by Kathleen Bates, senior autism spectrum disorder/special needs aquatics specialist and coach, QF.
Delivering customised and private swimming lessons, the programme had one swimming coach and 21 students to start with.
“But the programme became very popular almost instantly and, since then, we have offered more than 6,000 individual swimming lessons with five full-time specialised and professional coaches. The growth of the programme has been tremendous, and the demand and interest from the community has continued to increase as well,” says Bates.
When the programme began, it was focused on the autism community. 
“But, within just a few months, we slightly changed our strategy to become more inclusive. In September 2019, our programme became fully inclusive of all abilities and specific needs. We are proud to have participants in our programme that have cerebral palsy, hearing impairments, Down Syndrome, spinal cord injuries, visual impairments, autism and learning difficulties, and more. We are thrilled that we are able to offer unique and bespoke lessons for people of all abilities from the age of four years upwards,” she explained.
According to Bates, the swimming programme is unique and important. 
“While its goal is to teach people how to swim, the most important aspect is that it teaches water safety. Drowning is the number one cause of death amongst the autism community, and we can totally prevent this through basic water safety instruction. Through this programme, we can save a life,” she stressed.
“We have heard numerous times over the past year how certain children now react differently to water after being involved in our programme. They are understanding that it can be dangerous and are demonstrating their water safety skills and awareness to their families. Our programme includes five different levels of swimming, from beginner up through competitive swimming as well as stroke refinement and modification. 
“While our classes are intended to be affordably priced, we did not want the programme fees to be a barrier to entry for anybody who could benefit from it. The Qader Award was introduced as a financial tool to be able to provide funding to families who would not otherwise be able to participate in the programme.
“It was launched in September 2019 and we currently have 21 families actively participating in our swimming and football programmes at no cost to them. These families have been dedicated and committed to the programme. This programme is very important to them, and without the award they would not be able to participate.”
The second cycle of the Qader Award will be launched this month and families will be encouraged to apply for financial support for either Ability Friendly Football or Swimming Programme.
The award recipients will receive a full academic year of either swimming or football at no cost.
“As we look ahead to what is next for our Ability Friendly Swimming Programme, we have several key goals. We hope to introduce a competition squad and the training that accompanies it; we have taught hundreds of people how to swim, and we would like to teach some of them how to compete. We would love for QF to have the first ever ability-friendly competitive swimming team and be able to represent QF and Qatar in local and international swimming competitions,” Bates said.
“We are also aware that we will not be able to teach everybody in the country, and so we will be starting to develop a coach-the-coach model, similar to that which our Ability Friendly Football Programme is working on.
The goal will be able to provide specialised and professional-level training to other certified swimming coaches in the country. This will help spread the impact and reach of this model across Qatar,” Bates added.
“And it shows how we are the programme that shows you what you can do.”
For more information about QF’s Ability Friendly Football and Swimming programmes, and the Qader Award, e-mail abilityfriendly@qf.org.qa.
To apply for the Qader Award, visit www.qf.org.qa/qaderaward