As part of its support for social rehabilitation initiatives for children with special needs, the CRA team visited the Pioneer inclusive mountain resort, which runs an adaptive downhill skiing programme for children with special educational needs.
The programme is implemented in cooperation with the Almaty City Administration through the Sports Department and aims to rehabilitate children with autism, ADHD and other developmental disorders through adaptive skiing. Adaptive skiing is available for children and adults with special needs aged 4 to 25. Additionally, the centre accepts children from the age of 2 on a paid basis.
Under the leadership of Zhanat Karatay, a comprehensive support ecosystem has been formed at the Pioneer base, combining sport, rehabilitation and family support. Parents have the opportunity to live with their children in guest houses, attend educational and developmental training sessions, and children can participate in specialised inclusive mountain camps. There is a separate inclusive mountain camp for children aged 7 to 17.
The centre's scientific and practical activities deserve special attention. The Pioneer team conducts research in the field of adaptive skiing, the results of which have already formed the basis for methodological recommendations. This is an example of a comprehensive approach that combines practice, science and social mission within a single project.
A visit to the CRA showed that Pioneer demonstrates a systematic and effective approach to rehabilitation, which is already having a positive impact on the lives of children and their families. The project has high potential for scaling up and could serve as a model for the implementation of similar initiatives in other regions.
