What is the objective of the organisation “Loisirs Assis Evasion” (Seated Leisure Activities Freedom)?
To make outdoor mountain sports accessible to the greatest number of disabled people as possible, within the framework of a specialist structure, including: Sit skiing, Tandem skiing, Tandem All Terrain wheelchair, Joêlette, Solo or Tandem para-gliding, Rafting, Climbing … activities organised and supervised by qualified instructors.
To promote contact and personal fulfilment and to make an outdoor playground accessible to physically disabled people so that anyone, regardless of their disability, can take part in and enjoy the freedom and excitement of doing outdoor activities in their natural environment.
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History
Following an accident in 1989 and the loss of the use of both legs, Yves MATHELIN (ski instructor, mountain guide and officer in the Chamonix police mountain rescue team) decided to create the first specialist sit skiing structure supervised by professionals in France, and founded the “Ski Assis Evasion “ (Sit Skiing Freedom) association in 1994. In 2000, Frédéric Bouniol took over the running of the association in collaboration with Lionel Mailly and Dominique Desbenoit. Ten years later the association, now known as “Loisirs Assis Evasion”, has an increasing number of professionals in its team, and has developed activities in summer as well as in winter.
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A reference
The members of the association are greatly solicited for both their competence and know-how, not only in France, (by the French Disability Sport Federation, the Association of French paralysed people, the National ski and mountaineering school to name but a few), and one of the association’s members is an evaluator with the Tourism and Disability label, but also abroad, for example training professional instructors in Spain and Canada.
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