Last Updated30 October 2024

The information in this section aims to give some ideas on making your lesson more effective and keeping your student safe. Personalise these tips by combining them with the specific information you gain about the person’s abilities from your assessment.

Disability Etiquette

Disability etiquette is a set of guidelines dealing specifically with how to approach disabled people. The rules of etiquette and good manners for interacting with disabled people are generally the same as the rules for good etiquette in society.

Whether it’s meeting the student for the first time, completing our assessment, this should be done courteously and sensitively. Avoid focusing solely on the disability, as this can make individuals feel seen as their disability rather than as a person.

Disability Language

There are many words and terms that are used to identify disability. The way these are understood differs. For some of us, the term, “disabled people”, is a source of pride, identity and recognition that disabling barriers exist within society and not with us as individuals. For others, the term, “people with disability”, has the same meaning and is important to those who want to be recognised as a person before their disability.

The current consensus, based on advice from the New Zealand Disability Strategy Revision Reference Group, is “disabled people”. In the future, it is possible the disability community will decide to revise the way to describe themselves. If this happens, the language can be changed to reflect this.

Throughout this manual we will be using the terms people with disabilities and disabled people, in recognition that both terms are used within New Zealand.

The Basics

Remember, the individual is the expert on themselves—they know their abilities and limitations. Engage in a conversation with the new student to learn about their daily life. Ask about other sports they play or the work they do. This helps you get to know them and start your assessment.

The way you meet and approach the student is equally important. Always be respectful and appropriate. Address the student directly, not their caregiver if they have one, as it is their lesson.

Consider how you would feel if you had a car accident and needed to use a wheelchair. Imagine arriving for a lesson where the instructor ignores you and talks to your friend, then speaks to you in a condescending manner. Treat your students with the respect and dignity they deserve.

Ask Before You Help

Many people with disabilities live fully independent lives. This independence has often been a long, hard road to achieve, and they may resent you trying to do something for them that they are perfectly capable of doing themselves.

Offer assistance only if the person appears to need it. If they do want help, ask how before you act. On snow, this independence will often need to be regained in this new situation, and you may need to assist them more as a beginner until they learn the sport and gain the ability to do everything for themselves. People with a high degree of independence may take some time to get used to needing help as a beginner, so patience is needed.

When talking to wheelchair users, get down to their level and talk. Don’t make them sit there craning their necks back trying to join in a conversation being conducted above their heads.

Be Sensitive About Physical Contact

Some people depend on their arms for balance; grabbing them, even if your intention is to assist, could knock them off balance. Avoid patting a person on the head or touching or pushing the wheelchair, scooter, or cane. People consider their equipment part of their personal space.

Don’t Make Assumptions

As in all lessons, the person themselves will have desires about what they want to achieve from the lesson. Make sure you ask them the motivations behind taking a lesson and what they hope to achieve. Sometimes, as in every lesson, people may have unrealistic expectations. They may remember being an expert before the accident and not realise they have problems getting down that beginner slope now.

Motivation may also play a part in deciding which equipment to use. Do they want to stand or sit? Are they interested in doing the sport on a regular basis and becoming competent and independent, or do they only intend to do it once and are looking for a bit of fun and not really interested in putting in the hard yards to develop a new sport?

Medical & Environmental

The instructor also needs to learn about any specific information relating to safety of the student, including medical risks and medications from the student. Will the student be affected by the mountain environment, the physical exertion, do they take any medications that might affect them or need to be administered by them during the lesson?