Chris Robertson, a lecturer in Inclusive and Special Education within the School of Education, recently contributed to an article in the online Guardian on dyspraxia in competitive swimming. Dyspraxia is a disorder which can affect all types of skills including balance, manual dexterity and motor movement. As such, children often struggle with physical activities and sports.
Until recently, children with DCD could compete in British swimming competitions under the S17 category - a category which is unique to Britain. However, as the category does not exist within the International Paralympic Committee classification system as the condition is not recognised overseas, British Swimming and the Amateur Swimming Association have now removed the S17 category. As such, swimmers with DCD now have no choice but to compete with the able bodied people.
Whilst Chris does recognise that it's not easy trying to categorise dyspraxia in a meaningful and consistent way, he would like attitudes to change so that in future officials are not saying 'How do we exclude' but rather 'What can we do to include'?
Read the full article