Real and practical self defence for a person with a disability

Now to get down to what this is all about. Real and practical self defence and training techniques
for a person with a disability.

Using a wheelchair does reduce the choice of techniques available. Consequently one has to focus on hand work. As an instructor you will need to be aware that no two individuals who use a wheelchair are the same.

The two factors to review are:

* The balance that the individual has.

How far forward or to the side can the individual bend before they compromise their balance? (Example. If you look at any of the pictures on this website you will see that Declan and myself keep our backs against the back of our wheelchairs. This is because we have no balance if we lean forward}

* The control that the person has of their wheelchair.

If they are using a lightweight sports wheelchair, check how easy it is for the wheelchair to tip backwards. Some wheelchair users have astonishing control of their wheelchair. If their wheelchair is very prone to tipping backwards ask them to talk to someone familiar with adjusting wheelchairs, or adding an anti-tip bar. Most chairs can be
adjusted.

A good place to start is focus mitts. This gives you, the instructor, the opportunity to get a sense of what range a
person has and also to see how a wheelchair moves.

In a real self defence situation it is important that the brakes are not locked on the wheelchair, as this would increase the chances of the wheelchair tipping backwards. However, while learning how to strike it helps initially to have the brakes on. It is important to do some work with the brakes on. Because of the laws of physics the wheelchair will move backward as the wheelchair user strikes the mitts.

Nevertheless, it goes without saying that if I am suggesting that the brakes are not applied in a real self defence, well then it is important that the wheelchair user becomes familiar with what happens to their wheelchair when they punch an attacker. So start with the brakes on, just to familiarise the individual with action of punching, then work at striking the mitts with the brakes off.