The questions most asked of people who teach Martial Arts to people with different abilities is: How can someone who can't use their legs do Martial Arts. What has to be taught differently and is it still Martial Arts.

Martial Arts is based on very specific, logical principles. When one understands the principles one is prepared to teach Martial Arts. Regardless of ones abilities/disabilities Martial Arts is based on those principles. Teaching people with disabilities is, in principle, no different than teaching anyone else.

Every student is required to do, to the best of their ability specific techniques. If one is unable to kick, than a replacement technique that does approximately the same thing must be found. For example a front kick can be replaced by a straight punch, a roundhouse kick by a roundhouse punch, a back kick by a hammerfist and so on. For someone who cannot use their arms the reverse is true. People who are paralized on one side need to be given one sided alternatives, keeping in mind balance problems that may also be present etc, etc, etc.

However the biggest adjustment to teaching people with different abilities has nothing to do with the physical aspects of the training. Like people who do not have visable disabilities, the biggest challenges come from overcoming insecurities and learned behaviors. Teaching someone who has been athletic all of their life and through an accident has had a limb amputated is different than teaching someone who was born with a disability. Someone born with a disability who has been integrated into society is different that someone who has been institutionalized. This is also true of teaching able bodied students. One who was abused as a child will have different needs than someone who has had a happy and nurturing childhood. Men have different needs than women in many cases...but everyone can learn Martial Arts with the same high standards.

I have a student, Lydia Zijdel, who is in a wheel chair. When Lydia started training with me (1985) she was concerned that because of her disability she would hold the other students back. Lydia is one of the most motivated and dedicated students whom I have ever taught. My answer to her was, that I was waiting for the rest of the group to catch up with her...it took them several years! Lydia was the 1st Dutch person, who is disabled, to earn her Black Belt. She has been teaching both disabled people and people who want to teach disabled people for many years and is probably one of the foremost authorities on teaching people with disabilities in the world today. But in the same way that not all able bodied practitioners achieve the same success, not every disabled person can or wants to achieve what Lydia has achieved. As Lydia herself reminded me. It is becoming more and more acceptable for people with disabilities who are able to control their muscle functions to train. But for people who are spastic there remains the stigma that they are unable to do 'real' Martial Arts.

This is nonsense.The students who have the most trouble finding teachers and being recognized for their skills and knowledge are spastic, but the limits are imposed upon them by ignorance. Because they move differently, the beauty of their movement is often neglected. Also, because of spasms it takes an extra effort for the teacher to try to find the right movements to go with the students physical abilities and limitations. But once the connection is made, and one sees the spirit flowing, along with those beautiful movements, one realizes that it is in fact true that Martial Arts is for just about everyone, it only takes the desire to learn and a willing teacher.

That is why when approaching teaching, regardless of whom one wishes to teach, one must know their own limits as a teacher and above all, understand the principles involved in Martial Arts. Once one understands the principles...there is NO DIFFERENCE in teaching Martial Arts to whomever! Martial Arts is the study of Body-Mind-Spirit in equal parts. What the body can't do...the spirit makes up for.

Do not accept less than the best from every single student. Whatever ones best is..it should be given. Do not expect less and you will not be forced to be a witness to less.

In my more than 25 years of teaching Martial Arts, the one most glaring truth that continues to present itself is that beginners ALL have the same insecurities. When one teaches integrated classes, all of the students learn from each other. Those people who are disabled are able to see that their insecurities have more to do with being a beginner than with being disabled and the same is true for the so called able bodied students.

Know the principles and be open to the needs of each individual student. In this way, there is no need to teach differently when one is teaching people with different abilities. Each student has individual needs. Those needs are easily met once one understands the basic principles.

Written and copyrighted by Wendi Dragonfire, Renshi, Shuri-Ryu Karate-Do. Practical Martial Arts Netherlands National Director