Monica Lepore shared a link on the book of faces
To: Individuals With Disabilities or Those who are Deaf
To: Families of Persons with Disabilities or Those who are Deaf
To: Aquatic Professionals, Coaches and Instructors
From: Diversity in Aquatics (DIA) Adapted Aquatics Council in Collaboration with the DIA Research Council
Date: August 5, 2021
RE: Your Opinion is Needed Regarding Aquatic Opportunities and Gaps in Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities or Deaf, in the United States
After months of work, a group of researchers (listed below) and many individuals with disabilities who served as experts, a survey is ready for you to fill out the Aquatics for Individuals with Disabilities Survey and distribute it to many others in your circle!
If you are a person with a disability, or an aquatics professional, or a family member of a person with a disability or a Deaf Person, please give us your opinions!
If you can give us your opinions by September 3, 2021, that would be great! If you don’t get to it by then, the link will stay active through September!
https://www.de-ctr.org/redcap/surveys/?s=JL4NL4CRCK
If you need the survey in American Sign Language, please contact Knolan Rawlins at krawlins@desu.eduThe information gathered by this survey will help with informing the United States National Water Safety Action Plan for recommendations, the Diversity in Aquatics Adapted Aquatics Council for knowledge of future planning and needs of the community, and the Starfish Aquatics Institute new Adapted Aquatics Instructor Credential to make sure all content is appropriate.
Bottom line=get more individuals with disabilities, and Deaf persons, the quality of life that is enhanced through aquatic experiences!
After you take the survey, can you please send this message to as many people with disabilities, families of people with disabilities, and aquatic instructors and coaches, as possible.
If each of us sends this survey by September 4, 2021, to many other people, it would be a great start. We want to make sure we send to people that swim, people who do not swim, people of a variety of ethnic and racial groups, disabilities, socioeconomic levels, parts of the country, urban, suburban, rural and as many diverse situations as possible.
Thank you so very much for taking the survey and passing it along to colleagues, friends, other families and people with disabilities, so that we can assess the experiences of people with disabilities, their families, and aquatic instructors and coaches, and then advocate for changes where needed.
Sincerely,
Monica Lepore, Ed.D., Professor Emeritus, West Chester University
Knolan Rawlins, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Delaware State University
Angela Beale-Tawfeeq, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Rowan University
Maria Lepore-Stevens, Ed.D., Instructor, Rowan University
