While most of the rest of the crew were killing it in the Casi indoor workshop, a couple of us ducked out to see whats new with our CADS counterparts. Ironically the indoor got moved to a room higher up in a different building that wasn’t super wheelchair accessible, but a determined badass sit ski athlethe still found his way up the the seminar.
About 18 years ago I got a little bit involved with some CADS programs at Silver Star mountain back home, but since then I haven’t
really had much interaction with this side of the industry mainly due to the lack of snowboarding emphasis. This is really starting to change thanks to Michelle Schaefer!
With a overall moto of fun, respect, inclusion.
Most discussions were based around a few mental health issues, the autism spectrum and well as anxiety disorders.
Very interesting to hear about problem solving pathways that they have created to help turn challenging situations back into fun.
Ski resorts are full of triggers for anxious and autistic people so they have put together a 6 step checklist to diffuse situations:
Observe
Stop
Assist self regulation
Evaluate
Validate
Plan (Give choices)
Followed up by some post care debriefing:
Praise
Positive/reframe
Debreif
Involve parents/caregivers
The shocking part is most of us working instructors deal with these situations on a daily basis without even realizing it.
I know the first thing alot of instructors think about when they hear adaptive snowsports they think sit skiis and obvious disablities. Mental health is on the rise in most countries so, I encourage any instructors to look into what these guys are doing and get involved.
Adam
