The conditions for the development of adaptive sports in the city has been discussed in the Kazan City Hall

Deputies of the Kazan City Duma, representatives of ministries and public organizations attended the roundtable.

(KZN.RU, October 25, Alina Berezhnaya). The problems of conditions’ accessibility in the city for the development of adaptive sports were discussed at the roundtable meeting in the City Hall. Deputies of the Kazan City Duma, the State Council, representatives of republican ministries, structural divisions of the Executive Committee, and public organizations attended the discussion.

Last week, on October 17, the deputies of the Kazan City Duma visited a number of sites, where they got acquainted with the conditions for the development of adaptive sports. Following the results of this visit, a roundtable was organized.

Svetlana Vostrikova, the chairperson of the Committee of Physical Culture and Sports of Kazan, reported that 87622 people with disabilities live in Kazan. The number includes 4667 children with disabilities, 11% of whom are engaged in adaptive physical education and sports. However, only 377 out of 2036 sports facilities are adapted to the needs of disabled people. “These are recently-constructed buildings, therefore the standards of the “Available Environment” were already initially observed. The remaining buildings were built long ago. We need to do something with old objects, for example, to create a special program that would include the installation of elevators fr om the outside of the building. Thus, we could increase the number of places for sports for the disabled”, said Svetlana Vostrikova.

Rehabilitation centers take an active part in attracting people with disabilities to physical education. 535 disabled people of various categories are engaged in 5 centers. Sports have a positive effect on the health of people with disabilities. Thus, a warm arena was opened for practicing hippotherapy in the equestrian club “Kazan” last year.

Svetlana Vostrikova noted that commercial and non-profit public organizations of the city make a great contribution to the work with disabled people. For example, a football field was built in the territory of the Kazan mosque “Yardam”, where matches for people with disabilities and athletics competitions are held regularly.

Children and youth sports schools are developing in Kazan. Today, 31 children with disabilities are engaged in them. Instructors who have received special training work in these facilities, but not all of them can be coaches in adaptive sports and physical education.

Also, the development of a physical culture of children with disabilities is carried out in educational institutions of the city. For example, adaptive physical education classes are held in 24 schools. About 1000 students attend them.

Ilnar Khidiyatov, the head of the Kazan Department of Education, spoke about the implementation of inclusive education in Kazan on the example of the Lyceum №78. 1240 children study there, 12% of them have limited health opportunities. The educational institution has para-sport lessons, psychological relief rooms, speech therapy, and much more. Last year, the entire wing of the building was set aside for training in the preparatory group of children with disabilities. Experienced teachers work with children who have graduated from special courses and have a specialized education.

However, not all schools have such a staff of teachers, noted I. Khidiyatov. “In accordance with federal requireements, resource teachers, defectologists, psychologists, tutors, and junior educators should work in classes for children with disabilities”, he said. “Today we have only junior teachers in the staff list of educational institutions. We have worked this question together with the Ministry of Education, but, unfortunately, these rates are not provided for in the budget of the republic and the city”.

Today, there are 267 students enrolled in the Volga Region State Academy of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism under the program “Physical Rehabilitation”. After graduation, they cannot find a job in their specialty, despite the shortage of personnel, because they require additional medical or pedagogical education in educational or medical institutions.

Svetlana Zakharova, the deputy of the State Council of the RT, the chairperson of the Committee on Social Policy, noted that it is necessary to develop a special program to solve this problem. “We are doing not enough, because everyone works on his own level. It is necessary to analyze everything, create a legislative base that would help to supervise this issue and give future specialists the opportunity to work”, said S. Zakharova.

The rehabilitation of people with disabilities was also discussed at the roundtable. Gulsina Khuzieva, the deputy head of the Health Department of the Ministry of Health of the RT for Kazan, said that outpatient rehabilitation departments are located on the basis of children's and adult polyclinics in the capital of the RT. One of the methods of medical rehabilitation is physiotherapy. More than 20 methods of such physical culture are used in health care institutions.

Summing up the results of the meeting, Taisa Chernova, the deputy of Kazan City Duma, the head doctor of the city children's polyclinic №7, added that full-fledged inter-agency cooperation is important with the development of adaptive sports. “We cannot work separately. It is necessary to open a center in each district, a sports base, wh ere at a certain time a group of children with definite diagnoses would be training”, she suggested.

At the end of the discussion, the meeting participants came to the conclusion that the city needs a coordinating advisory council, which would include representatives of republican, municipal authorities, and public organizations. The issue of creating a council will be recommended for consideration at the regular session of the Kazan City Duma.

Photo report

The roundtable on the development of adaptive sports