CDNT Community Fair in Ballinasloe

At the end of September, our team were invited by the lovely Ciara O'Malley-Mooney, the Senior Paediatric Physiotherapist for the East Galway & South Roscommon Children's Disability Network Team (CDNT) to join in their Community Fair at the Shearwater Hotel, Ballinasloe.

The CDNT were having a fair for families involved with their team and were looking for representation from local inclusive activity providers so that families could get an idea of what is going on in their locality.

As Able Active helps people find local and national trails, we felt as though our attendance there was well placed. This feeling got further validated as the evening itself went on, as we got speaking to more of the families, carers, guardians and individuals who fall under the CDNTs remit. The delight on peoples faces, primarily parents, when they learn more about the app is something I never get tired of seeing. Knowing that we're providing families with the information to find trails, amenities and facilities that support their child(ren) with a disability(ies) to be active in ways that haven't been available to them up until now is such an incredible feeling. The world opens up for them more.

It's always quite emotional introducing people to the app. I know what it's like to feel as though you've little to no options to explore or be active.

It was a great opportunity to get out and meet members of our community, hear their pain points and how we can support them in leading more active lifestyles.

There were also members of SICAP (Social Inclusion Community Activation Programme) there, the Galway Local Sports Partnership, Galway Rural Development, Galway Autism Partnership and many more. Well done to Ciara and the rest of the team for organising such a brilliant event. I hope participants got a lot out of it.

We hope to see yourselves and Galway again soon.

Visit https://www2.hse.ie/services/disability/childrens-services/services/find-a-cdnt/ to find a CDNT near you.