COMMUNITY
SURFERS HEALING TAKES CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SURFING By Cash Lambert Photos Dominique Miller
Former pro surfer Izzy Paskowitz (above) believes that surfing can have therapeutic effects. This is the primary reason he started Surfers Healing, a non-profit organization that takes children with disabilities tandem surfing.
Standing next to Eden Orpilla on the Waikiki’s cool sand as she watches her 10-year-old son Anthony glide on a surfboard with the assistance of a volunteer, it’s obvious that this isn’t just another surf session. “It’s heartwarming knowing that Surfers Healing understands us and knows what we’re going through,” said Eden while discussing Anthony’s autism diagnosis on the morning of Saturday, November 28. The event, which provided surfing, food, a concert and an “environment of acceptance” all in the name of autism, was yet another stop on Surfers Healing’s international season, which has put on 22 events in 2015. Founded in 1996 by Israel Paskowitz, the non-profit organization has since traveled to Australia, California and the entire East Coast on an annual basis to enact surf camps for over 150 children with autism and other special needs. The statistics behind that which Surfers Healing is aiming to help autism - is beyond alarming. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 68 children are identified with an autism spectrum disorder, which impedes both social and communication interaction. The governmental organization also notes that the “developmental disorder” is much more common in boys (1 in 68) than girls (1 in 189).
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Though medical journals and white coated professionals explain there is neither a ‘cure’ or ‘quick fix’ for autism, water and surfing seems to have therapeutic benefits. Former Pro surfer Israel “Izzy” Paskowitz experienced these benefits first hand while taking his son Isaiah, who was given a diagnosis of autism at an early age, surfing. On the Surfers Healing website, Izzy writes that the seed for the nonprofit began at the “opening ceremonies of the World Longboard Championship in Haleiwa, Hawaii. [my son] Isaiah was having a meltdown. My wife tried to calm him, but she had her hands full. Not knowing what else to do, I picked Isaiah up and heaved him into the ocean. When his head popped up, a transformation had taken place; here was a happy, smiling, peaceful child…A friend grabbed a longboard, and Isaiah and I rode the waves for the first time. He loved it. He loved the ocean; he loved being out on the board together. And me? I was beside myself, because I was finally connecting with my son. We could surf together, and that was enough.” He continues: “I believe that Isaiah responded so dramatically to the ocean that day because it helped calm him during a time of sensory overload. It was a therapeutic experience for him. There’s something powerful about the weightlessness or floating, the lightness of riding a wave. And our family has seen that transformation time and time again with Isaiah. That day in Hawaii, I had a feeling that maybe, just maybe, surfing might help other kids with autism like it had helped Isaiah. With that in mind, [my wife] Danielle and I began inviting other families to join us in the water. We founded Surfers Healing, the original surf camp for children with autism, in 1996.”