The Share Holiday Village offers everybody, able and disabled, a fun time. Anne Dempsey reports.
Fiona Power, 31, from Thurles, Co Tipperary has cerebral palsy which affects her speech and movement. Known for her happy, outgoing personality, she gets about by wheelchair and speaks with some difficulty. She works in local sheltered employment and lives at home with her parents. New experiences are very important, which is why she so much enjoyed a recent trip to the Share Holiday Village, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh.
"I took part in shooting arrows, speedboat and a disco. My other sport is swimming and I do it only once a week. I love to get away for as many trips as possible and I'm looking forward to going back to the centre in October or November to try other sports."
The Order of Malta, best known for its expert presence at cup finals and rock concerts, ready to step in if heat or excitement proves too much, enabled Fiona to go on this trip.
Part of an international 900-year-old organisation, the Irish service provides ambulance, first aid, nursing and emergency care in over 130 local communities. But its activities have also expanded into care centres, lunch and supper clubs in Dublin and Galway, and a full-time training centre in Drogheda for 75 people with physical and intellectual disabilities.
The order also organises pilgrimages abroad and has an annual international camp for people with disabilities. It's about six years since it discovered the riches nearer home at the Co Fermanagh adventure centre, purpose built for people with disabilities.
This summer the order bought two chalets on site, each offering self-catering accommodation for 12 people. These will provide a training base for carers, youth development and leadership programmes, a respite facility, as well as expanding holiday opportunities.
"I hesitate to throw around words like unique, but to my knowledge this is the only centre of its kind in Ireland. Without it, many of our people would never have a holiday, and now we have a perfect base for training volunteers, members, cadets and carers taking our clients on holidays abroad," says the order's communications manager, Rosita McHugh.
"People with a disability feel very isolated. Having a holiday or being in an environment with others with similar experiences and problems is a huge boost to their confidence," she says.
Established in 1981 to celebrate the International Year of the Disabled, the adventure centre now welcomes over 10,500 participants annually, making it the largest such facility in Ireland. While most are able-bodied, the aim is inclusion by providing participative opportunities for all in most programmes. Situated on a 60-acre site on Lough Erne, there is accommodation for 210 visitors at any one time.
General activities designed to offer thrills in safety are archery, pedal go-karting, orienteering, team building, electronic paintball, adventure games, hill walking and navigating the 30ft indoor and outdoor climbing walls. Creative activities include painting, ceramics, pottery and drama. Watersports on offer are kayaking, canoeing, dinghy and keelboat sailing, windsurfing and banana skiing - being towed at speed behind a speedboat aboard an inflatable banana - "the guarantee of getting wet makes this a big favourite amongst 10-16 year- olds," says Share Centre marketing officer Chris Scott.
"Sports are particularly important for people with disabilities. It allows them to do things they thought they'd never get a chance to do and builds self-reliance. People with special needs can lead a sheltered life, with few chances to be competitive. While safety is paramount, just being able to do ordinary things like getting wet and dirty is important too.
"Our instructors find working with these groups very rewarding, because they can get so much out of what we do."
Visitors include wheelchair users, and those with other physical disabilities and young people with conditions such as cystic fibrosis. Special needs can include mild intellectual disability, due to a congenital disorder or the result of a road traffic accident.
Chris Scott sees the coming- together of difference to be a real plus. "One of the advantages is the chance for groups to mix and get to know each other. If you take your average 10-12 year-old in normal school, they've never had contact with anyone with a disability. Some of our staff are on sheltered employment schemes, so your dinner could be served by someone with Downs Syndrome. At the beginning, it's a shock, you see them looking twice. By the end of the week, it's taken as normal, nothing special.
"It's the same with the groups, we don't force anything, it begins to happen naturally through communal activities, meals, disco, playing pool with someone in a wheelchair. The other great thing about kids is they'll ask you straight out what's wrong with you, none of this PC attitude, which can be quite healthy."
The Order of Malta has paid €200,000 to buy and refurbish the two detached and fully serviced chalets. Accommodation comprises single and double bedrooms, kitchen, sitting room, dining room, library, showers and toilets.
The chalets, says Rosita McHugh, give a new range of options to the organisation. "Many people in wheelchairs are confined in every part of their lives, so a lot of our work is asserting their dignity, enabling them to express themselves and their talents. We train young people through activities and workshops for proficiency in working with our clients. The chalets at Lisnaskea will give an opportunity to explore and expand our own talents and horizons," she says.
Share Holiday Village, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, tel: 048-67722122.