Séan Nelson, age 10, lives in Kildare with his family and has been attending Enable Ireland service since he was eight weeks old. Séan was born with Spina Bifida and is a wheelchair user. His mum explains how at age seven he began to feel his wheelchair was a barrier to taking part in sports like his friends. A visit to his school from a paralympian who had completed marathons quickly changed that and inspired Séan to do the same. Since then, he has embraced all types of sports including wheelchair basketball, sailing, swimming and athletics. Séan trains every month in Leixlip with his athletics club and can be seen around his home training in his specially adapted sports wheelchair. In July, Séan competed in Enable Ireland Kildare’s first event triathlon. It was a fantastic day and he is looking forward to taking part in many more competitions in the future.
Sean’s mum, Sharon, explains, “Through his involvement in wheelchair sports, Séan has met teenagers who are wheelchair users and seen first hand how that needn’t be a barrier to participating fully in life. It’s been really important for him to see that. It’s been great for his self-confidence and his physical and mental health. His ambition now is to represent Ireland in the Paralympics. I have no doubt he will."
"It’s really important that Séan has that belief that he can do anything he wants to. Our job as parents is to make the adjustments, the tweaks to make that ambition a reality. There is no such word as can’t in this house! I don’t look at Séan’s disability, I see his ability and what he can do.”