Victoria Tai, 16, was all smiles as she confidently blazed the Grouse Mountain bunny hill Monday despite the rainy and foggy weather.
Her father, Edward, said he has seen great improvement in Victoria, who has a learning disability, since joining Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports (VASS) — a learn-to-ski program for persons with disabilities at Grouse, Seymour and Cypress mountains — five years ago.
VASS offers programs, including skiing, snowboarding, sit-skiing and advanced adaptive ski racing.
“She’s a totally different person when she’s out in the mountain and her confidence level has gone up,” Tai said, adding that the program helps, as there’s no way he could afford skiing lessons. “It’s changed our lives completely. Without VASS, Victoria would just be doing nothing in the winter.”
VASS volunteer Tom Mooney, who’s also a parent of a participant, said the program has made a huge impact on his daughter’s social life and strengthened the range of motion in her legs.
But VASS president Anne Bethune said their biggest limitation is the need for volunteers. She’s urging people to volunteer and adds that they shouldn’t worry about not knowing how to work with people with disabilities since they’ll get proper training.
“It really makes a difference in people’s lives,” Bethune said. “It’s not just what happens on the hill, but what happens off the hill when people go home with increased confidence .… They’re going to have more confidence to get out in the world and be all that they can be.”
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