How can someone with a physical disability ski? Read on, come back often and you'll soon find out that anyone, regardless of their ability, is able to enjoy skiing; for that matter, any sport they choose. With some accommodations, it's possible for people with disabilities to participate fully in any aspect of life especially downhill skiing.

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We are an organization of volunteers committed to supporting persons, regardless of their ability, participate in downhill skiing. Please visit back in the next couple of months while we work to try and make this an informative and useful website. Our goal is to start building a community interested in promoting recreational or competitive downhill skiing for persons with disabilities.

What exactly does that mean?

• If you are the parent of a child with a disability and they would like to learn how to ski, read on.
• If you have a disability but none of your friends or family are the least bit interested in learning to ski, read on.
• If you've seen people with disabilities at any ski resort around the world and wondered how do they do that, read on.

down to business!

So, how does someone who is , a parapeligic or amputee manage to navigate their way safely down a steep hill covered in snow and ice without injuring themselves or other skiers? Simply put, and as in few words as possible, with a little help from their friends.

• Rule number 1: There are no rules. Because every disability effects people differently, no one approach will work for everyone. That doesn't mean that there aren't well structured processes to help a new skier get the hang of the sport, but rather, once people find their groove, they'll find their own way to get around the various challenges that a disability poses.
• Rule number two: not every person with a disability wants to compete. For most, simply getting out and enjoying the fresh air is enough. Yes, there are those individuals who train seriously and commit considerable effort and resources to competition. CADS encourages these members to excel and offers various camps across Canada to support their development. However, for the vast majority, as in the abled bodied world, aspirations of national competitions are not high on their list.
• Rule number three: Be safe and have fun. Obvious! Perhaps, but stating the obvious is never an exercise in futility. Regardless of the disability, any skier with a physical or intellectual challenge needs a bigger margin for error. As you'll see throughout some of the images on this site, it takes only a split second for anyone to get seriously injured. If other skiers allow a little more room when someone with a disability crosses their track, chances are dramatically reduced that someone will get hurt.

Now that the lecture is over, let's find out how this really works! Because the primary purpose of CADS NB is to promote downhill skiing for persons with disabilities, the logical starting point is to look at how volunteers can acquire the knowledge and confidence to assist a person with a disability enjoy Canada's best outdoor winter activity! Sorry, the author is prejudice. Click this link for information on the associations training courses, certification levels and prerequisites for guides and instructors.

Because the author of this website is blind, let's begin with how blind skiers ski.
Next, this page will discuss how someone who uses a wheelchair would ski. Many of these people, after a season or two can ski completely independently. Read on to see for yourself.
Another category of disabled skiing are persons who are amputees. Again, with specialized equipment, a little extra training up front and a supportive ski resort, the barriers faced by amputees can quickly and safely be overcome.
How about persons with intellectual disabilities? Read on and see for yourself.

what, we haven't lost you yet?

Thank you for reading this far. Here's where we'll share scheduled events for the upcoming ski season.
Each region of CADS NB offers different programs based on their volunteer capacity and composition of their membership. Speaking of membership, and this will be detailed elsewhere on this site, both persons with disabilities and volunteers who are interested in becoming guides/instructors must purchase a membership. This is in order that everyone is adequately insured under the CADS national liability coverage policy.

• Capital Region Association of Disabled Skiing (CRADS) schedule of events
• south east Fundy - Saint John, Sussex and area