Jaime, mum of Albie

“My son is 13 years old and is on the autistic spectrum. He is extremely shy, does not join group activities and cannot speak, yet he so wanted to learn to ski.

“Albie has sensory issues and can get overwhelmed and distracted, particularly if it starts to get busy. He hates new shoes and we have a lot of trouble even just going to Clarks for school shoes. However, with the amazing help from his ski instructors at Snowbility Albie put on his own helmet. This slowly progressed to putting on the full kit, including boots and standing in the doorway to eventually getting out on the snow. The instructors also showed Albie how all the clips on the boots worked and he started to enjoy trying to do this for himself.

“He is having so much fun and I cannot thank the Snow Sports Foundation and the team at Snowbility enough for this opportunity that he wouldn’t have otherwise had. His brother has been there as Albie’s carer so that he can help to translate if others cannot understand him. Albie adores his brother and this experience has created something they are able to do together and bond over.”

Alice, mum of Khye

“My son is 13 years old. He is on the autistic spectrum and extremely shy and does not join group activities, yet he so wanted to learn to ski. I found out about the Foundation and contacted them for help with some funding.

“He had his first lesson and it was amazing to see him so confident on the slope with the personal instructor. I can tell with more sessions my son’s confidence is going to increase to help him to socialise in due course.

“Thank you to the Foundation for contributing to funding, it has made a huge difference to Khye”

Edward, Father of Toby

“We have simply been amazed at how Toby has got on with his skiing lessons. We’ve tried everything from tennis, to swimming and climbing, but due to his ADHD Toby has never stood still long enough to be taught and quickly lost interest.

“Without the help of the Foundation we would never have been able to afford the one-to-one lessons and we would never have seen Toby’s face as he does a 360 degree turn on the snow.

2Thanks so much to the Foundation for the funding.”

Nigel Edwards, Penn School

“As a result of the contribution from the Snow Sports Foundation I was able to take 16 students for six weeks of skiing lessons. We have been using Snowbility, an organisation based at the Hemel Snow Centre that specialises in helping people with disabilities access the amazing world of skiing.

“This has been a fantastic success, with all the students attending absolutely falling in love with skiing. It has been a major boost to the students in terms of self-confidence, knowing that they are achieving things that they never thought possible. It has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for them. One of the students’ family has actually booked a skiing holiday for this December. Something, I am told they never thought they would be able to do, due to their daughter’s disabilities.

“The sessions have also improved the students’ independence skills – they now are able to sort out the equipment and clothing needed when we arrive at the Snow Centre each week. This, in turn, has been a great opportunity for them to practice and learn new communication skills. Leadership, teamwork and empathy have also improved.

“Watching them using the new skills that they have acquired has been amazing. They have progressed from barely being able to put their ski boots on, to others skiing independently and under control down the main ski slope.

“I have included some testimonials from students that have attended and benfitted:

“I just wanted to say how much I enjoy skiing. Skiing is something that I thought I would never have the opportunity to do. It has given me great confidence and I feel my co-ordination and balance has improved so much.

“I really look forward to Monday mornings.

“Thank you for organising this for us.”

Emma

“I like skiing because it is fun and it is a good way to be with friends and learn how to ski. It is good if we want to go skiing for a holiday and it builds your confidence up with other people around you. They have good instructors to help us to learn how to ski. It’s a good thing to spend time out of school time learning how to ski, you learn new stuff. You can go there on your own if you can ski. You can teach new people that come from schools to learn to ski. And it is a great way to make new friends, then you can go on skiing holidays with your new friends and meet up for a coffee with your new friends. It helps your muscles, balance and helps people’s strengths.

“And we really love it on Monday mornings to go skiing, to learn!”

Tom and Nancy

“I like going skiing with my friends because it is fun falling over in the snow. I love being warm in my water proofs as it is very cold in the winter, so we have to keep warm. I have been skiing for a few weeks now and I am getting better each time.”

Cheyenne

“They have nice instructors, I like them because they are kind, funny and helpful.

“They tried to help me because I found skiing really hard for me.”

Leam