What If You Can’t Afford Adaptive Sports Equipment?
Many Organizations Provide Financial Support to Help Those with Physical Disabilities to Get Active
This week on the podcast, two-time Paralympian Noelle Lambert stops by to talk about running blades, Paralympic classification, adding long jump to her program, and her experiences at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. Take a listen!
Noelle is passionate about getting more people involved in adaptive sports, so much so that she started a foundation, The Born to Run Foundation, to get sports prosthetics into the hands of amputees. Specialized prosthetics and sport-specific wheelchairs can cost thousands of dollars, out of reach for many. How can individuals with disabilities get access to and assistance for adaptive sports equipment? Here are some options with descriptions from their respective websites:
Founded by 2004 Paralympic gold medalist Ryan Fann, ABR goes beyond paying for specialized running blades. The organization also connects its athletes with peer mentorship, community, and education.
Challenged Athletes Foundation
CAF provides grants for adaptive sports equipment such as sports wheelchairs, hand cycles, mono skis and sports prosthetics, and resources for training and competition expenses directly to physically challenged individuals.
Through the Ron Weinert Ability Fund, Dare2tri provides financial and equipment grants to eligible athletes who have a physical disability or visual impairment. The goal of the Ability Fund is to eliminate the barrier of high-priced equipment, travel, coaching, and race entry fees.
The Heather Abbot Foundation is committed to helping individuals who have lost limbs due to traumatic circumstances get specialized prosthetic devices. There is no deadline; requests are considered on a rolling basis.
The High Fives Foundation's Empowerment Fund offers two grant cycles each year, designed to support individuals recovering from life-altering injuries in pursuing goals related to outdoor adventure sports.
IM ABLE Grants provide hand cycles and other adaptive athletic gear, as well as instructional training programs to allow physically challenged children and adults to be more active, enjoy the benefits of physical fitness, and spend more time in the great outdoors.
Through the Active Fund, the Kelly Brush Foundation provides grants for individuals with paralysis caused by spinal cord injury to purchase adaptive sports equipment.
The Hartford Athlete Equipment Grant provides up to $5000 to youth and adult adaptive athletes with a permanent physical disability to purchase adaptive sports equipment.
Wheels for Wheels offers Adaptive Sports Grants to competitive parasport athletes for the costs associated with parasport competition including travel and accommodations, adaptive sports equipment, competition expenses, and coaching and training.
These organizations provide support in the United States; there are plenty of other groups who help athletes around the world. Many local and regional groups work in specific states or cities. Don’t let financial limits limit your access to sports!
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