After the opportunity was created to work with special needs children during The Urban Playground’s (UPG) visit in January 2016, we at Parkour Circle have begun training the children using Parkour methodologies.
Working with Special Needs Children
It has been an eye opening journey to say the least. There are so many aspects of things that I had missed over the past few years of my training. All those limitations were laid bare once the work with the kids began. In this series of blog posts, I will try to verbalise my observations, my learning, and what I intend to do with the knowledge gained. My teammates at Parkour Circle will be leading me in this journey as mentors, peers, and fellow seekers.
The first introduction at Satya Special School had been a fairly simple one. Meeting the teachers and discussing the various conditions that they deal with. While I had very limited knowledge with regard to the various conditions that exist, the overall perspective of Satya Special School opened my eyes in a way I never thought possible.
Contributing Members of Society
When it comes to any form of disability, our society today has become so rigid that even slight differences in physicality, emotional stature, psychological preferences and behaviour makes it difficult for those individuals to thrive. Emphasis is always on conforming to rules and regulations that try to fit the majority population into quantifiable contributors to society. Satya Special School’s teachers told me that their intention is to train all the kids to become functional and contributing members of society. It is a very heavy term: Contributing Members of Society.
Most people would deem any person with a physical or so called mental disability a burden on society. However, this school was trying to find ways to give them the dignity that is rightfully theirs. Oh! DO those kids earn it.
Working Through Parkour
It is in this context that the thought process of fitting in Parkour as a training regimen for these kids started forming in our minds. The whole point of training in Parkour is to be efficient, and to be strong to be useful. It was with this mindset that we began our research into the various conditions, and to wonder how we could develop a program through which the children and the teachers can have one more weapon in their arsenal … to be strong and useful.
We will share more about this journey of discovery soon, so do subscribe to our social media channels.