The unintentional campaigner

“It feels like a constant fight but when it is for something you truly love and believe in, it is the most rewarding thing in the world!” Sophie Etheridge shares how campaigning for inclusivity in the open water swimming world has changed her life for the better.

In 2020 I planned to swim a two-way Windermere to fundraise for Arctic One, a disability sport charity. The swim was postponed due to the pandemic and in the resulting spare time I created the Adaptive and Disabled Open Water Swimmers (ADOWS) Facebook group.

After attending several open water swimming events I noticed a common theme: I was the only swimmer there with a visible disability. I created ADOWS to help me feel less alone and hopefully find some other swimmers that faced similar problems to myself.

Throughout my training for Windermere, I wrote a blog about distances, times and temperatures, but also the added challenges I faced because of my disability. Without realising it, I soon become an advocate and campaigner for swimmers with disabilities. ADOWS continued to grow and by the time my Windermere swim came around we had around 300 members, but it was after my swim that the group really took off.

Suddenly every kind of disability you can think of was represented in the group.

The group wasn’t only open to those with disabilities, it also welcomed coaches, event organisers, swim buddies and organisations. Through my campaigning I discovered that some people didn’t know how to coach those with disabilities and didn’t think they would be able to cater for them at events either. It was that that made me want try to improve education; after all, if there was nowhere for people to learn, how could they become more inclusive? ADOWS became a resource for people to ask questions to those with disabilities on how they could improve access.

In 2023 I was privileged to work alongside the Swimming Teachers’ Association in their campaign to improve accessibility in swimming by training coaches and teachers for free in their new Disability Swimming qualification. The association also sponsored my English Channel swim to help me show that those with disabilities can do incredible things with the right support.

My swim ended up being so long that it broke world records, but records aren’t important to me. What was important was that organisations such as the World Open Water Swimming Association wanted to talk to me about how they could be more inclusive. I had countless emails and messages asking for advice and help and since my swim they haven’t stopped!

Campaigning feels like a constant fight but when it is for something you truly love and believe in, it is the most rewarding thing in the world. If you are thinking about campaigning about something, do it. I am proof that it can totally change your life!