Snow turns "I can't do it" into "I can do it" - Neige, a ski school for people with disabilities, wants to convey the message of "your own strength"

Neige Ski School for the Disabled continues to create moments of joy on the snow, with people saying "I did it!" The day a listless child smiles for the first time, the day a child who thought they couldn't move is able to carve a turn. Through skiing, this is a place where people can believe in their own potential and develop the awareness to live a healthy life on their own

I couldn't stop the thoughts welling up inside me

It all started with the passionate desire of one skier, Inaji Daisuke.

"The electronics company where I used to work was looking for volunteers for a theater troupe of people with disabilities. I thought I was lucky to have three days off, so I applied with impure motives, but then someone from the theater troupe said to me,

"It's extremely difficult for these children to come here, and they prepare for months in advance. Do you know why? This is the eighth floor, right? They check everything, like whether a stretcher for a severely disabled child can go up there, and what to do if something happens, and in the end, no matter how much they want to go, they often end up giving up, realizing it's just not possible."

I was really shocked to hear this.
Also, when I was a student and working as an instructor at a ski resort in Nagano, I had to take care of a child with severe intellectual disabilities for three days. I couldn't communicate at all and it was extremely difficult. Later, I got a call from the parents saying, "My child can't remember people's names. But he remembers your name and says he wants to go skiing again. Can you talk to him?" I was so happy.

At the time, I couldn't do anything, but I was really happy that my feelings were conveyed. This experience and the shock of my previous theater company overlapped, and I couldn't sit still any longer, so I quit my job and said, 'I can't do this job with a tie on anymore!' I enrolled in ski school, and six months later I was standing on the snow. I couldn't stop what was welling up inside me. That was 25 years ago. I think that was the beginning of Neige."

Neige Ski School for People with Disabilities is a non-profit organization that uses ideas and ingenuity to help everyone enjoy skiing to their heart's content, regardless of age, gender, nationality, or whether or not they have a disability

Not only the Olympics but also the Paralympics are attracting a lot of attention, and the word "diversity" is everywhere these days, but 25 years ago, was there anyone who would take their "severely disabled child" out onto the snow, or a place that could teach him the joys of snow?

"I want to somehow convey the wonder of snow, which I love, to people with disabilities," Inaji said, and his passion was ignited

Neige's background and resolve

After gaining experience as an instructor at a school, Inaji went independent in 2006. He launched Neige at Captain Coast Kayama and finally found a place to work, but..

"Financial management was really difficult. Chair skis and other equipment are very expensive. At first, I rented them for the season and used my own money to buy everything little by little. But I didn't have a customer list, I didn't have money to make brochures, and I made a homemade website, so I was desperate. My income was less than half of what it was at my previous job, and people around me said I was stupid."

Perhaps due to these hardships, Inaji fell ill during his second season

"I think it was due to financial stress. My right side became paralyzed. I managed to get into the season, but at the end of January my doctor told me to stay in the hospital. For 40 days, unable to move, I was staring out the window of my hospital room at the snow-capped mountains in the distance."

In the middle of the season, when I wanted to be on the snow the most, I couldn't. It was frustrating and disappointing, and I thought how inconvenient it was when my body didn't move the way I wanted it to. At that moment, I felt like I understood a little bit about people who have disabilities and can't move their bodies freely. I don't say that people with disabilities are "pitiful." Not being able to move your body is just a real hassle. Now that I understand that a little bit, I'm glad I got sick."

This experience further deepened Neige's vision.
Neige then moved its base of operations to Yuzawa Nakazato, and is now part of the Smile Resort corporate group, with a stable track record of over 15 years.

"It's really hard to keep going, but that's why you can see the scenery,"
Inaji says, his words filled with both hardship and hope.

Snow has the power to change lives

"I still remember him well. He was a junior high school student with muscular dystrophy, and his prognosis (the outlook for recovery after treatment for the disease) was not very good. When I met him, he didn't smile at all. He had no expression on his face. Even when we started skiing, he still didn't smile. He said his hands hurt, and only skied a little in the morning, and that was it. In the afternoon, I wondered what to do, but as he tried again, he gradually started to smile. So we rode the lift several times and skied together that afternoon

Afterwards, I received a letter from his mother. She wrote, "I was really hesitant about letting him go, but when he came back, his eyes were sparkling and he told me he had had so much fun. I was so happy to see him come back with that look on his face." I also received a letter from him

At that time, the teacher in charge said to me, "This is the first time this child has laughed since entering junior high school." That had a huge impact on me. Muscular dystrophy is a progressive, incurable disease, and by the time a child reaches the second year of junior high school, it's difficult to see a future for them. I was really worried about how to talk to such a child, and to be honest, it was painful and I didn't want to do it. But I learned something. What we should do is not sympathize. We should do our best to do what we can to the person in front of us. That's all there is to keep conveying."

This experience was a major turning point for Inaji

"People who don't usually smile are laughing like this. I truly felt that skiing is a great sport, and that I wanted to continue doing it."

The "I did it" moments that Neige creates mean more than just being able to ski. A child who had lost their smile smiles, and a body that thought it couldn't move glides across the snow and makes turns. The accumulation of such surprises and joys awakens the dormant strength within the person or family, giving them the courage to move forward

Skiing is a means - what I really want to convey

"For people with disabilities, skiing seems like the most difficult sport, and they probably wouldn't be able to do it, but through experiences like, 'I tried, and I was able to do it, and I kept trying and I was able to do it!', it makes them think that maybe they can do other things too, and that's a really big thing

We hope that skiing will be an opportunity for families to take another look at the abilities that their children have, and that the children themselves will be able to understand their own abilities and new possibilities. We do this to raise awareness and motivation so that they can have the strength to live their own lives

With that in mind, let me introduce you to a very memorable guest

Fuyuwa (a third-year high school student) was seriously injured in a car accident when he was in elementary school, suffering spinal cord damage, blindness in his left eye, and complete loss of function in his left arm. He now regularly uses a power wheelchair. Until the day before the accident, he had been living a normal, healthy life, but the accident completely changed everything. Miraculously, he survived, but during his roughly year in hospital, he never left his hospital room or opened the curtains. Not wanting to show those around him how changed he had become, he even refused to go to school.

Even before his injury, his family had been enjoying skiing at a resort condominium. His grandparents learned about Neige through work and came to consult about skiing, eventually trying out seated skiing. At first, he never smiled, but he skied several runs and apparently enjoyed it.

That night, the family went out to eat for the first time since his injury. His grandfather says that everything changed from that point on. I later learned this story.

Now, Fuyuwa enjoys skiing every year with his brilliant, aggressive speed, and of course, his family too

What makes me happiest is that he now goes to school as usual, plays in the brass band, has taken up shooting, and leads a very active life. His
disability was not congenital but acquired later, and he has made a comeback from a truly difficult situation, so the efforts of both him and his family are incredible, and we could never have imagined the hardships he went through to get to this point. At the same time, he is one of the guests who made me realize once again how powerful skiing is."

Skiing is merely a means to bring out a person's courage and potential.
And "Yes, you can do it!" Everyone can enjoy snow.

It's not that we're "teaching skiing to people with disabilities," but rather that the people we're trying to convey the joy of skiing just happen to have disabilities」

Inaji's thoughts and ideas clearly indicate the direction of Neige

The art of "waiting" and 100 ways to deal with it

Hanzawa Hikaru, a young staff member who is the mainstay of Neige alongside Inaji, was born in Yuzawa. After graduating from high school, he went to a vocational school in Tokyo to study training, massage, and sports. When he returned to his hometown of Yuzawa and was looking for work, a mother who was an instructor at the school told him, "There's a person like this at the ski resort," and he thought, "What's that? There's a job like that?"

"When I first heard about it from Inaji, I thought there was no way it would be possible to ski with a person with a disability. But at the same time, I was excited and attracted to the idea of ​​a world I had never known. When I actually tried it, a new world opened up inside me that I had never imagined. I was surprised to find that it was so close to home

"At first I was confident. I could skate, I had the technique, and I thought I'd be able to manage somehow. But when I actually faced the guests, rather than it being difficult, I just felt powerless, like nothing was getting through to them. How can I describe this feeling? Nothing resonated with me, and I didn't know what to do," says Hanzawa

"But that wasn't the important thing. Generally, people tend to treat people with disabilities like they're a sore thumb, or to feel sorry for them or be afraid of them. But we, the cast of Neige, treat everyone the same, regardless of whether they have a disability or not. Because when we want to convey to others that we love skiing and that skiing is fun, it doesn't matter whether they have a disability or not. What's important to us is how we communicate that."

Approximately 30 to 40 percent of Neige's guests have intellectual or developmental disabilities, but the variations are wide-ranging, including people with Down syndrome, visual impairments, wheelchair users due to cerebral palsy, and those with severe trunk dysfunction

"For people who are blind, we can be their 'eyes,' but there's no need to help them more than necessary. For example, we don't think it's kind to carry all of their luggage for them. Being able to move around on their own at the ski resort is a huge thing for them," says Inaji

"Really, there are 100 different ways for 100 people. We're not doctors, and we can't 'cure' anything. But rather than finding out what a person can't do, we work with them to find out what they can do and help them develop that. I think that's our job

In particular, it often takes a long time for guests with intellectual disabilities to get used to skiing. What we can do in five minutes may take a child a year. That's why "waiting" is so important. Don't rush or panic, just watch over them and build up little by little. As you interact with them, you want to convey to them that "this is fine."

How do you communicate this? This requires "human strength" that cannot be measured by technology or theory alone

"For example, with children with intellectual disabilities, I never use difficult words. I keep telling them, 'Open your legs!' or 'Put your hands out!' all day long. No matter what happens, I never keep quiet. Just continuing to communicate has a big meaning. And I'm sure that one day it will reach them."

What particularly made an impression on Hanzawa was the three years he spent with wheelchair-bound guest T. T has lower limb and trunk dysfunction due to cerebral palsy and regularly uses a wheelchair

"At first, he tried to try sit-skiing, but he couldn't use his core and he kept falling over. It was too difficult, so he gave up. Since sit-skiing, which uses one ski, is very difficult for someone with cerebral palsy to maintain balance on, he used equipment that provided more stability. But after coming to us for three years and practicing over and over, last season he said, 'I want to try again.' I hesitated for a moment, and to be honest, I thought it might be difficult. But he was determined, so we decided to give chair skiing a try as a revenge! And lo and behold, he did it! He made great turns and skied a distance by himself. All the staff were excited, saying, 'Wow! He did it!'"

It was an unforgettable moment for Hanzawa as well

"I felt that everything I had done up until then had not been in vain. I truly felt that I was being raised together with the guests. I have nothing but gratitude to the guests."

Here is a video of T's smile and his skiing at that time

In addition, the guests' activities are posted daily on the following channel. This is a handmade initiative that was started with the desire to convey that even with such disabilities, it's possible! And to share cool videos with the world so that the guests and their families can be proud of them!

https://www.youtube.com/ @Neige Ski School for People with Disabilities

Graduation is the goal

"We're aiming for 'graduation'. If possible, we want them to no longer have to come to our house. We want them to be able to enjoy skiing with their family and friends as a matter of course. That's our goal."

Neige offers lessons not only for the individual but also for their family members to help them become more independent. They practice getting on and off the lift, operating chair skis, and timing assistance, so that eventually the whole family can come skiing on their own

"We give bibs to those who are close to graduating. They are white bibs with the reversed colors of Neige. They are like a graduation certificate of congratulations, saying, 'You can now skate on your own, you don't need to come to our club anymore.'

The guests who have graduated in this way still come to Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Resort. I often say to them, "Oh, you were here? Stop by the school later." It makes me really happy to see them having fun skiing with their families."

Children's small achievements greatly expand the possibilities not only for themselves but also for their families

"My mother loved skiing, but after her son was born with a heart condition, she gave up on the idea that she would ever ski again. But when her son learned to ski using chair skis with an oxygen tank, the family was able to ski again. Being able to ski also meant that they were able to regain time as a family."

Neige's goal of graduation is not simply the result of acquiring skills, but the realization of one's own strengths and potential through skiing, and the step that will enable the individual to live in their own way, and for the family to live in the way that they want

Passing on the power of skiing to the next generation

"I want people to know that a young person like Hanzawa is choosing to do something like this."

As he speaks, Inaji has his eyes fixed firmly on the next generation

"It may not be cool, but I would like to meet people who are even slightly interested in this kind of work. People tend to think of us as people in the welfare field, but we have no intention of doing welfare work at all. We are skiers, and we want to keep this perspective. The reason is that we think it is wrong for us to view people with disabilities through the lens of welfare as socially vulnerable or in a weak position

At the same time, I don't like being seen as someone who takes care of people with disabilities. I also question the idea of ​​a relationship where one person is looked after and the other is looked after, and I think, 'You're just chair skiing, you're just taking care of them, right?' But that's not the case. We are skiers, and as instructors, we are involved with them with all our might, using all our skills and feelings."

Hanzawa has also realized this through his own growth

"At first, I wasn't good at teaching at all. In fact, I was really bad at it. But I think I've grown together with the guests who come to see me every year. I think I've finally figured out how to use words that resonate, how to communicate, and how to teach in my own way

I want people who love skiing and those who are interested in interacting with others to know more about this. Don't think it has nothing to do with you, but come and see this site for yourself. The simple truth is that snow and skiing make everyone smile

Would you like to join us in increasing the number of smiles?"

Information

Neige Ski School for the Disabled

Official website: https://npo-neige.com/
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