‘It proves he is capable’: the extreme sports offering release for disabled people

Dieumerci Yanga never recovered from the seizure which, at the age of three, left him in a coma for three weeks. He woke up with significant brain damage, unable to talk or see clearly.

But last week, the 27-year-old was to be found working out in his local boxing ring in Rotherham with as much focus and skill as any other beginner.

“We’ve tried a range of more gentle sports and none have engaged Dieumerci like boxing has,” said Ghazala Tanveer, Yanga’s support worker.

Before he began boxing three months ago, Yanga could only communicate very basic concepts through signs and simple phrases, and experienced acute anxiety when parted from his mother.

“He still can’t talk fully but since he starting boxing, he’s not only more independent – happy to go out and about with his mother – but he can communicate so much more clearly that his mum can barely stop crying: she’s able to ‘talk’ with him properly for the first time in his life,” said Tanveer.

Yanga is not the only person with complex disabilities to find extreme sports have transformed their lives.

Kian Kotecha, from Leicester, is just 19 and has autism, ADHD and epilepsy. Six weeks ago, Kotecha started weekly lessons at his local climbing centre. He is, said his father, a new man.

“Kian can already climb walls that would be a challenge for someone who didn’t have disabilities,” said Piyush, his father. “It’s amazing: he struggles to clean his teeth but he can happily climb right to the top of the climbing wall.”

He added: “Kian has just the same need for adrenaline and excitement as any other young man but life doesn’t often offer those opportunities to those with complex disabilities.”

He has tried more traditional sports but it is clear he gets a particular thrill