BLIND & VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENT DO MORE THAN TAKE A RIDE AT CHALLENGED AMERICA

Imagine eight, nine and ten year old, blind and visually impaired elementary school students steering and trimming a sailboat all by themselves as the navigate they busy and tricky waters of San Diego’s Big Bay.

“We’re not a go-for-a-ride sailing program,” says Dave Meyer, volunteer coordinator of the therapeutic Challenged America program.  “These kids’ first-time experience sailing will be an instant reality happening as they learn to steer and trim the sails, even though they can’t see, with their sailing instructor sitting behind them in the two-person, Martin 16 sailboat.”

 

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Supported by the Port of San Diego, Challenged America is San Diego’s only, no-cost, learn-to-sail therapeutic “Community Sailing Program for the Disabled.”  Originally created in 1978 by San Diego disabled veterans, Challenged America is the recognized pioneer in the use of sailing as a therapeutic activity for disabled veterans – Wounded Warriors, kids and adults with disabilities to enhance their rehabilitation and increase their participation in the community.

According to Meyer:  We sail every Friday and Saturday, year-round.  And we make special arrangements on other days of the week for those having special needs or time challenges.  We try to accommodate anyone with a physical, mobility or mental challenge, … and during the summer months we are quite busy scheduling all the volunteers on the days — in addition to Fridays and Saturdays — that we have group and individual sailing requests.  It’s getting the volunteers that often is our biggest challenge.