What is disability:
According to the dictionary, it is a disadvantage experienced by a person. It can be physical or mental.
People with disabilities add to this picture that it can be visible or invisible, and no one is immune from joining the ranks of those who are mentioned more often than they are discussed.
This may be the heart of the problem; the topic of disability has perhaps too often been addressed by able-bodied people passionate by vocation, but able-bodied nonetheless.
The message was being well-received, but here, in front of Fatah SEBBACK, Handi Karate Manager of the Languedoc Roussillon League, second Dan black belt, holder of the DIF (Federal Diploma), who from his wheelchair “which he came to in the course of his life,” passionately explains all the possible variants of this adapted sport, Stanislas BILLICK, Departmental Manager of the Handi Karate commission “who taught this sport to his blind daughter,” we understand better.
Then there was also the brilliant presentation by Olivier JAMES, Handi Sport Manager at the Antibes Town Hall, whom Nice Première will speak of shortly.
What is karate:
It is a martial art that is divided into three fields of study.
Kihon involves individually or group repetition of positions and movements.
Kata, which means “form,” aims at training the body and acquiring strategic automatisms.
Kumite or combat takes various forms in karate, from the most codified to the freest, with or without contact.
How and Why Handi Karate in the 06 Region.
Didier CHIARLA, the organizer of this day, is President of the Departmental Karate Committee and explains.
NP: How long has the CDK06 existed?
DC: The departmental committee has existed since 1975.
NP: And the Karate section?
DC: The Karate section was created two years ago.
NP: On whose initiative?
DC: Mine. It was I who wanted to set this up. The Federation was doing it, but nothing was in place here at league and department level. The aim was to approach people with disabilities of all kinds. We had to speak with instructors who were already welcoming these people; we conducted a survey but received few responses. We want to open sections in clubs or go to centers to provide initiation and promote martial arts in general.
NP: You are based in Nice. Have you started to engage with institutional bodies, such as the County Council, the City of Nice to see if there were accessible places and available slots and what kind of aids you could claim?
DC: With the County Council, what we are implementing will fit into the action plan. At the City of Nice level, there are places for events; currently due to construction, some access is not very facilitated, but at Ariane, there is a beautiful room at Maurice Jaubert where we have already had access for initiation, and we will renew that soon. We are just starting.
NP: How many licensed members do you have in handi karate?
DC: We haven’t quantified because at a licensing level it’s not separated. It would require adding a category.
NP: Are you connected with disability associations in Nice?
DC: Yes, we are connected to the APF in Nice (Editor’s note: French Association of Paralyzed Persons) and Cannes, who lend us wheelchairs for initiations. We will integrate into the Departmental Handisport Committee 06 to be part of the DAY WITHOUT DIFFERENCES taking place on June 2, 2007. So far, there are 6 or 7 sports represented. This day is open to all practitioners who want to initiate themselves into different sports, and so karate will be represented this year.
NP: Where will this day take place?
DC: It is expected to be in Mandelieu; we will naturally keep you informed.
NP: What is the essence of your approach? Making karate accessible, changing perceptions of disability, opening your sport to a larger number of people?
DC: It encompasses everything: making karate accessible to everyone, YES, to a larger number of people who might think that because they are disabled, they can’t participate. Note that the federation has made regulations adapted according to disabilities. Then we need to open our sport to everyone; I think we should not remain in isolation and do it only for able-bodied people.
NP: Can one practice karate if they are blind?
DC: YES. There is a working method that has been codified; Fatah will explain this to you shortly, various pedagogies have been set up depending on disabilities.
NP: Ultimately, are there no disabilities that prevent practicing karate?
DC: It depends on the type and degree of disability, but no, and we will show you all that.
Fatah SEBBACK then starts a projection. He indicates that the first film is not in his specialty: “It concerns visual impairment but later we will decline his approaches into three categories, traditional karate, recreational karate, and health karate.”
KUMITE, on screen, a blind man attacks and defends against his sighted opponent. Silence falls. How is this possible? Fatah explains: “you feel the human warmth. Changes in air and heat allow him to know.” He is also a kata champion. The film plays on, and the beauty of the movements demands respect.
Fatah SEBBACK then comments on katas performed by people in wheelchairs. Kumite is excluded, he specifies, due to the clutter of wheelchairs, but it has been adapted into self-defense, just as health karate is approached as a rehabilitation tool, and leisure karate is practiced for more severe disabilities in a fun way. It’s more about discovery around karate.
He describes and explores balance difficulties based on the height level of the blockage on the spine, the lack of abs, the difference that can exist depending on wheelchairs. Each case is particular depending on the muscular contractions of the lower limbs.
Audience: Are there children?
FS: Yes, the youngest I have is 11 years old.
Audience: Is there arbitration based on the level of disability?
FS: Today in France there is no competition. Elsewhere yes, and they are, of course, trained.
Audience: Where?
FS: Regarding competitive practice, I conducted research and discovered that in Germany there were World Championships in 2002, with 20 participants in wheelchairs representing 18 countries.
European Championships in 2004 and here in France, there is no information about it.
Elsewhere they have their national teams, their structures regardless of disabilities, and I am in contact with the President of the Irish Federation, who sends me all the information by email with results. It’s true compared to us, with the United States and Canada, they are ahead by 10 years.
Audience: How many licensed members are there in France?
FS: Today, according to the FFKAMA, there are 300 declared persons. The problem is that there are two federations, the Karate one and the Handisport one. There are more karate licensees in the handisport federation than at the FFkama, so we have requested that a convention be signed between the two federations. We made the convention three years ago, which was rendered by the FFKAMA but without results from the handisport federation.
A voice is heard from the side of the room saying it is close to completion.
It is Olivier JAMES, the Handicap Manager at Antibes Town Hall. A BE Trainer at CREPS, multiple BE himself, graduated in law, musician, author of a reference book on handi sport.
Olivier James speaks of the difficulties: “Handi karate is underdeveloped. When one wishes to implement something, it is necessary to target the international authorities. There is a law from February 2005 about equal opportunity in life, and sport is part of it. The path is still long, but it will be easier if Karate enters the Paralympic Games. The games are a basis for common international work.
As long as the French political authorities have not found common ground between the two Federations for there to be a balance, there will always be discrepancies and inconsistencies in the organization.”
He takes a seat in front of the assembly to talk about regulation, identification, and referencing. His speech is very educational and pragmatic.
“An example to start with, in the Paris marathon, the prize for the first-place finisher is 200,000€. For a handicapped person, it is 20,000€, one cannot live from their sport when handicapped.”
Hence the interest in promoting sport practice development in health and leisure categories. Some pathologies “evolve,” and when using this word, it’s always in a negative sense. However, in my case, I was able to stand, walk, and talk thanks to sport and family environment.
All disabilities are different even if they are classified under the same naming convention.
There are congenital disabilities and those that occur during life by accident or illness. There are: IMC.TC.AVC.MS …….
We will return very soon; in the meantime, Mr. Olivier JAMES has written a reference book where everything is explained.
If only time could stretch a little more for him to continue talking. The audience is mesmerized by this vibrant and articulate personality. If humor is a form of intelligence, he uses it only to entertain his audience.
We often believe “by implication” in the merit athletes can have,
and we often bow before those who defy the boundaries of the thinkable by surpassing them more than the limits of their sporting abilities because they are “handicapped”… but the true respect these men and women deserve above all is to be accepted in our halls, next to us, integrated into our lives.
Those who once refused to accept these Handi athletes are un-sporting.
