Nicole Gallpen had a problem. The former swimming teacher’s son, George, loved the water. But despite being able to functionally swim, George was unable to participate in group swimming classes. Being autistic and selectively mute, George would experience severe anxiety and overwhelm at the raucous noise, the fluorescent lights and overall unpredictability of the environment.
Sure, she reasoned, she could get George one-on-one lessons or even continue teaching him herself. But she didn’t want her son to miss the experience of being among peers and making social connections. And she surely wasn’t the only mum thinking the same thing.
So she took matters into her own hands, launching an Inclusive Swimming & Water Safety pilot program with the help of The Benevolent Society (which, says Nicole, “aims to make lives for people with disabilities inclusive”) and her local swimming pool in Lismore, NSW.
Accepting just 20 students – with no age restrictions – the 10-week inclusive swimming lessons pilot has wrapped up and to say it’s been a triumph is an understatement.
“The program is for anyone who can’t access mainstream lessons due to their disability,” she tells The Weekly. “We have participants with autism, with Down syndrome, with vision impairment, intellectual disabilities, and developmental delays. We have one participant in a wheelchair with a physical disability.”
The future of the inclusive swimming lessons
“Going in, my goal was that if they fall into the pool, they learn that you grab the side and climb out,” says Nicole. “Have we had some swimming skills built? Yes. Our one adult can swim 25 metres and we’ve had all participants in the water, face in.
“But ultimately, it’s a social connection. The friendships made are so strong. We have one little boy who can’t handwrite, he has to type on a computer, and he got his mum to print out a note for another boy in the group which said, ‘I love swimming with you, I can’t wait to see you next week’.
“We started out with some genuine hesitations. And we’re ending with all smiles.”
When students complete the program, says Nicole, the aim is to get participants to move into mainstream lessons – something that George is all set to do.
And while the pilot will now be scaled up with more classes and providers, Nicole’s overall hope, she says, is that it will eventually be phased out altogether.
“We want the gap to close,” she says of the inclusive swimming lessons. “If we can upskill mainstream providers to be more inclusion-friendly, this program won’t need to exist. To do the program out of its job is the end game.”
The Benevolent Society offers a range of disability services including occupational therapy, behaviour support, physiotherapy and more. To learn more about this and other programs, head to benevolent.org.au
This article originally appeared in the December 2024 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. Subcribe so you never miss an issue.
