On 28th MAY 2011 Freedom in the Air (FITA) hosted the first ‘Introduction to Aviation’ day beginning from Cranfield Airport in Bedfordshire, UK (EGTC), for the summer 2011 flying season. The day is named, for obvious reasons, Freedom Wings day.
20 youngsters with a mixture of disabilities from Kangaroos had the chance of a lifetime to experience the freedom of flight, in the hope that it may expand their horizons when they attended the “Freedom Wings” day. Flying is one of the few activities where disabled people can participate to the same degree as an able-bodied person. The uplifting experience rebuilds confidence and restores self-esteem, and thus empowers people to explore their potential by extending their personal boundaries. In the air, we all fly at the same speed; nobody is disadvantaged or disabled. The young people looked around light aircrafts, learnt how aeroplanes work and then took to the skies for 30 minutes with experienced instructors. If they wished, the young people could’ve taken control of the plane and fly it themselves.
Kangaroos was established by a group of parents in 1993 to run out of school activities in Mid Sussex for children with severe leaning disabilities. There were no activities in the area suitable for special needs children to attend and they believed that their children needed and deserved activities that would be designed to cater for their very special requirements. Kangaroos run a range of recreational and leisure activities in Mid Sussex for children and young people from 6 to 30. All their members have learning disabilities and many have additional behavioural, physical or sensory problems, as well as a number with Autism and Epilepsy.
Freedom Wings day at Cranfield is part of a new project for Kangaroos which they have called “Challenges” and the aim is to provide a range of challenging physical experiences for young people aged from 13-25 with learning disabilities. These will be new experiences for the young people that will challenge them physically and emotionally, encouraging them to test themselves together with their peers in new environments, whilst being supported by staff and volunteers.
The young people have very little access to activities outside the home or school environment and can become incredibly isolated. Most lack the opportunity to take part in activities that will enable them to build the confidence and self-esteem necessary to both recognise and develop their abilities and broaden their horizons for later life. It is incredibly important that these young people are helped as much as possible to lead an independent life and they need the encouragement and opportunity to gain the required skills and competences to reach their full potential in every way.
Together we intend to show that anyone with a disability or from complicated backgrounds can reach for the skies, and achieve virtually anything, sometimes with only the very smallest amount of support. The pilots ‘one off’ flight could be as life changing for them as someone who flies every week and ends up with their Private Pilots Licence.
FITA founder Gautam Lewis, who uses crutches after contracting polio as a child in India, organises the Freedom Wing day to show people that disability is not a barrier to achievement. He said: “I thought maybe I should do something positive about supporting disabled people, help them learn new skills and push them to a new level of confidence so that they can have opportunities.”
“It’s trying to show what we can do regardless of disability.”
Freedom Wings days are great fun. We challenge, we educate, we empower. We use flying to raise people’s sights, expand their horizons and fulfill their potential.
The day was organised as a fun day for all and we saw see many smiling faces. FITA is very grateful to Pooleys and Backstreet Merchandise for providing the goody bags for the young pilots.
