Swimming Sheena

Sheena had her first visit to the local swimming pool. We dressed her up in her very groovy swim suit, and bravely made our way into the kids pool. It was pretty busy. Kids were splashing around us a lot, but Sheena took it in her stride.

I swim laps about 4 times a week, and often I see people with Down Syndrome at the pool. I saw one girl a couple of weeks ago, who was about 20, swimming in the fast lane. I took a fair bit of notice of course, and initially it was hard to be 100% sure that she had DS, especially because she wore goggles. She was an excellent swimmer, and although rather slow for the fast lane, she had a very smooth technique, and could swim at least 100m at a time. She was, however, with her dad or grand-father, and he would hold her at the end of lane between laps. When she got out of the pool, he helped her into a wheelchair, as it appeared as though she had a rotated hip. Of course, a physical disability to that extent is not typical for people with DS, so I did feel for her parents in having to have the extra issue of having a child physically dependent, as well as being a slow learner. She seemed a lot more like everyone else, than she was differnt. Just enjoying a trip to the pool like the rest of us.