The Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) will hold a course on Adapted Sports from June 9 to 10, aimed at physical educators in the city of Macaíba, where the institution is headquartered. The event marks the beginning of the resumption of adapted sports activities in partnership with the Municipal Department of Sports and Leisure of Macaíba. The activities, included in a new line of care of the ISD, Parasports, will be developed by professionals who are part of the institution's Specialized Rehabilitation Center (CER), with the participation of Professor Maria Aparecida Dias, from the Physical Education Department of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). 

The course will present possibilities and strategies for adaptations to include people with disabilities in sports. “Based on the identification of attitudinal barriers and the lack of services and professionals qualified to include people with disabilities in sports, a fact identified from a survey conducted with users of the ISD Children and Adolescent Spinal Cord Injury Clinic, the need arises once again to help remove these barriers by training professionals who are sensitive to including this public in sports, with the creation of opportunities and new spaces for access to adapted sports practice. In addition, a guideline recently published highlights the importance of physical activity for people with disabilities and how important it is to provide this to this important and significant portion of the population of Rio Grande do Norte”, declares physiotherapist Camila Simão, coordinator of CER IV ISD. 

Last March, Camila Simão met with the head of the municipal Sports and Recreation department, Sócrates Garcia, the deputy secretary Sidney Diego, and the advisor Pablo Nóbrega. Together, they discussed strategies for the return of the service, considered essential in the process of rehabilitation and socialization of children, adolescents and adults with disabilities. 

“In 2019, we carried out extremely rewarding work, which brought many positive results in the rehabilitation of children and young people with physical disabilities served at CER IV ISD. The adapted sports activity that was established at that time was born from a partnership between the Department of Sports and Leisure of Macaíba and the Vila Olímpica with the CER. Based on the training of 30 health, sports and education professionals, in addition to physical educators and interns from Vila Olímpica de Macaíba, we started the adapted sports activity for children and adolescents with physical disabilities from the 7th Health Region of RN, which includes Macaíba”, recalls Camila Simão.

During the meeting, Camila Simão presented a Work Plan that includes the development of Permanent Education actions to train Physical Education professionals to work directly with people with disabilities in the Municipality. “In addition, we intend to register this activity as an Extension project at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, to promote the training of new professionals with sensitivity and attention to the inclusion of people with disabilities”, points out Camila Simão. 

“In our planning, we had the idea of resuming the partnership. I see this demand positively and we realize that people with disabilities are in a much greater vulnerable situation. Macaíba City Hall and the Department of Sports and Leisure will spare no effort to make this partnership happen”, highlights Sócrates Garcia, holder of the municipal portfolio. 

Relevance

Recently, the UK Chief Medical Officer in the United Kingdom published on the institution's website (https://bit.ly/3zmEA8O) a guide on physical activity for children and young people with disabilities. The study reinforces the importance of promoting physical activity for these people in order to promote equity, inclusion, and the possibility of finding what is good for them or what is fun for them. In addition, it highlights the main benefits of physical activity for PwD, such as socialization, greater concentration and confidence, a sense of belonging, improved mental health, and the promotion of motor skills.

Timeline

09/06 – Thursday

Location: Anita Garibaldi Health Education and Research Center (Anita) – Macaíba

Paulo Freire Auditorium

8am / 8:30am – Accreditation

8:30 am / 9 am – Institutional Presentation, participants and team

9am / 11:30am – Video – Concept of Disability 

11:30 am / 12:30 pm – Lunch

12:30 pm / 2 pm – Sports and Rehabilitation and show our previous experience in the Olympic Village

2:30 pm / 4 pm – Round table with PcD talking and presenting their own experiences with adapted sports

4pm – Coffee and Closing

10/06 – Friday

Location: Anita Garibaldi Health Education and Research Center (Anita) – Macaíba

Paulo Freire Auditorium

8:30 am / 12:00 pm – Strategies for adapted sports in different types of disabilities

12pm / 1pm – Lunch

1:30 pm / 4 pm – Experience adapted sports at the Davi Florentino Gymnasium, in Macaíba

4pm – Coffee and Closing