Disability Martial Arts Association

Author: Ian C. Langtree - View Credentials
Published: 12 Mar 2008 - Updated: 28 Feb 2010

Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Overview - Related Content

Synopsis

This club was set up to help people with disabilities and their families become involved in martial arts.

Overview

Man in Wheelchair invited to Tokyo Japan to take part in World Championships Wheelchair Kata Category.

David Lee from Enfield Middlesex (UK) is to take part in the wheelchair kata's in November this year. Asked how he feels he said it's wicked to be picked.

David now 52 has been involved in martial arts since he was 9 years old. He was fit and active up until a car accident some 17 years ago now sees him confined to a wheelchair. But this doesn't stop him doing his martial arts.

David also runs the Disability Martial Arts Association, the first martial arts charity. They have set up a data base of Martial Arts Academy's School's and Club's in the U.K. that will teach people with all types of disabilities and their families. When people phone them they will then be able to give them a telephone number of the said organization. David said they are trying to help people with all types of disabilities into martial arts to help them get fit, and lead a better way of life.

We also run Ultimate Strike & Disability Martial Arts Budo Academy in Enfield Middlesex.

This club was set up to help people with disabilities and their families become involved in martial arts. Working side by side with the Disability Martial Arts Association (a registered charity) the club is run by David and Stephen Lee (father and son), they are helped by Kim Grove (Stephen Lee's Partner) Matthew Lee (David's younger son). Peter Kingsland Disability Martial Art Instructor for the charity.

The club is family run with the aim of bringing something to the community that very few have dared to try. The Lee family has adapted Taekwondo, Cane-Jitsu, Ju-jitsu for people with wheelchairs and all other disabilities so more people can get involved in the sport. This can help people with disabilities be more involved in the community and give them a place in society.

It is a strong belief of the family that the martial arts should be adapted to the student not the student to the art.

Author Credentials: Ian C. Langtree is a writer, editor, and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Disabled World, which he established in 2004 as one of the longest-running independent resources for disability news and information. Over more than two decades, he has written and edited thousands of articles on disability rights, health, accessibility, and assistive technology. Drawing on a global perspective shaped by extensive travel and lived experience, Ian is a committed advocate of the Social Model of Disability, the framework developed by disabled activists in the 1970s that focuses on removing societal barriers rather than on individual impairments. His writing is grounded in that framework and in a lasting commitment to disability rights, accessibility, and social inclusion. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and accomplishments, visit his full biography.