A community of adaptive and disabled open water swimmers

When Sophie Etheridge started a Facebook group, she inadvertently created a community of swimmers with disabilities where every small win is celebrated

Sunday 29 November 2020, a totally random and irrelevant date. The date I decided to create a Facebook group for open water swimmers with disabilities. Suddenly, a few months later, that irrelevant date ended up being life changing for me.

During the 2018/19 swimming season I got fed up with being the odd one out at events due to my disabilities. I couldn’t be the only person with a disability that swam outdoors! That is how the Adaptive and Disabled Open Water Swimmers (ADOWS) group began.

I could never have predicted that a community would be built from me being disillusioned, fed up and annoyed. Nevertheless, that is what happened.

When people first started joining the group, I was shocked by the numbers. I was unsure what people were expecting. I soon realised that what they were all hoping for was the same thing as me – a group of people that understood the challenges they faced. It wasn’t until people started making regular posts that I realised I had created a community. It was a place where people could be themselves with no judgement, where people could share their struggles and ask for advice and help. It was also a community that inspired, encouraged and celebrated living and loving life (especially swimming) despite having a disability.

Reigniting a passion

I feel it is important for me to say that creating the group didn’t only help others, it has helped me hugely too. I started it at a time when I was unsure of what I wanted in life, and it gave me a direction to go in. It also gave me back my passion for open water swimming.

The group gradually became a great resource, not only so that those with disabilities didn’t feel alone but to also help coaches and event organisers be more inclusive and improve access to open water swimming sessions and events. It provided a place where people could ask a group of swimmers with all kinds of abilities and disabilities how they could make things better for their pupils and participants. Knowing that what I was doing was helping others and even changing things that had been done a certain way for years was, to me, mind blowing.

Becoming a coach

In 2020 I set myself the challenge of swimming Windermere two-way. Unfortunately, due to Covid, the swim was postponed to 2021. Training for such a big event and having support and advice from those in ADOWS made me realise I could do whatever I put my mind to and as a result I decided to take my STA Open Water Coaching Level 2. I did the course with Keri-anne Payne and she was the first person, along with the STA, to say “of course there is no issue with you doing the course” in response to me saying I use a wheelchair. It was a big deal for me and it boosted my confidence. It gave me hope that there were people who wanted to improve access to open water for those with disabilities.

Telling people in ADOWS about my experience gave us all hope that things would get better. I ended up using my Windermere swim to raise awareness of swimmers with disabilities, to show what we could do with the right support in place.

A new world of opportunities

Completing the swim resulted in many new opportunities for me, including becoming a contributor to Outdoor Swimmer magazine.

I use every opportunity to spread the word about accessibility in open water swimming. Our community has grown, with people at all stages in their swimming journeys: from nervous first timers to accomplished marathon swimmers, everyone is treated equally, and every small win is celebrated.

Although I didn’t mean to create a community, I feel very proud of ADOWS. I am even more proud of us as a community for supporting each other and fighting for change. So, I want to thank everyone in the community for being kind and respectful and for treating everyone equally. Until things change, we will stay strong, keep fighting and support each other.

Find out more about ADOWS: facebook.com/groups/adows