The Minister for Equality, Samantha Sacramento, as well as officials from the Ministry for Equality met with members and users of the charity Supability this week, to witness first-hand the work they do.

Supability began in 2021, when the founders of the charity came up with the idea of making stand up boarding and surfing more accessible to people with disabilities, injuries learning disabilities and psychological and emotional presentations. Their program is developed from a similar one by the charity Surfability UK, a community interest company that adapts surfing in the same way. All volunteers at Supability are ISA (International Surf Association) trained by Surfability UK and also trained in First Aid.

Supability have already created a momentum and have partnered with the Care Agency, the GHA and a number of other charities to offer their unique services.

The Minister with responsibility for disabilities, the Minister for Equality, the Hon Samantha Sacramento MP said, “I am glad that I have been able to spend time with the charity and those who use it again as in the session I saw the effect this activity had on the service users and how it helped them gain an element of independence whilst at sea as well as the thorough enjoyment and I also wanted to learn how these opportunities can form part of our wider disability strategies.

"Creating a more accessible Gibraltar is the responsibility of all of us and it is always encouraging to see this in action. I would like to thank Ben, Tom, Kat, Andy and Jimmy at Supability for supporting our community by creating a scheme that is both fun and therapeutic and the project has my wholehearted support.”

Benjamin Hassan, one of the founders of Supability said “it was an absolute pleasure to welcome the Minister and her senior team from the Ministry of Equality to our platform.  It gives us great encouragement to know that our charity has the support and understanding of the Minister. Beyond this, our participants were overjoyed to had a splash around with the Minister and this for us is really valuable.  We welcome a good collaboration and look forward to seeing how we can work in partnership with one another as our objectives are shared ones.”