Community Outreach & Education

Community outreach is the essence of giving and contributing to help the community thrive. For DASA, our outreach is in the disabled community – for children and adults who are ABLE, just different.

During our community outreach sessions, DASA talks to recently disabled individuals in hospitals and/or rehab to share how we empower our athletes with physical disabilities to live to the best of their natural abilities with greater emotional and physical well-being, and we teach others how they can help them do the same.

If you or someone you know has recently suffered an injury that has left him or her physically disabled, or you have a disabled child, contact the DASA team today and let us help with the transition.

What We Do

After a debilitating injury or an illness that leaves a child or an adult disabled, everything in their world changes, and everyone around that person is affected. Coping and knowing “where to go from here” can leave even the most high-spirited person feeling lost. That’s where we can help.

During outreach:

• DASA team members talk to patients in rehab and provide information on sports after injury and how athletics can help them build strength, gain independence, and be productive members of society again.
• DASA team members talk to therapists in schools, school districts, and rehabs to share how important it is that they let their patients know about sports after injury and the incredible benefits of adaptive therapy and athletics.
• DASA community outreach if free of charge.

Since 1997, DASA has been helping disabled youth and adults get their lives back through adaptive sports and athletics and we love to share that message of hope.

Disability Education

Educating children and young adults about individuals with disabilities is important to remove the stigma that they are different and not “able.” Creating acceptance in younger generations helps foster a sense of community and inclusion.

That’s why, during DASA’s disability education sessions which are typically held in a school environment, those who attend learn how to interact with and understand children and adults with disabilities. They learn to treat them like everyone else and usually discover that they have more in common with each other than they realized.

Disability Awareness Days

DASA holds demonstrations and presentations at schools that do Ability Awareness Days. Our send-home messages include:

• Disability doesn’t mean someone CAN’T do something.
• We all have abilities, but we all do those abilities differently.
• Everyone, disabled or non-disabled, has a different ability or a “diffability.”
• Even though someone’s legs don’t work the way yours do, they can still get into the room, they just do it differently.
• Don’t judge someone until you talk to them, you may find you have more in common than you think.

Presentation Options

• Presenting only to an auditorium of kids or several different classrooms. $150
• Demonstration of equipment. We rotate several groups of students through 3-4 stations where the try out the adaptive athlete’s equipment. $300

Your support of DASA also supports our disabled community, as the funds from these sessions positively impact the lives of our DASA athletes and their families and help them thrive. DASA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

Contact Ramona Vann, at ramonav@dasasports.org if you’d like to book DASA at your school!