AbilityFirst Community Aquatics

AbilityFirst Community Aquatics is part of the Community Aquatics offerings at AbilityFirst. The program takes place at the Long Beach Center, where on-site services include Community Aquatics.

In 1926, a small group of business leaders from the Los Angeles Rotary Club established the Crippled Children’s Society of Southern California, which is the organization known today as AbilityFirst. AbilityFirst supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their families, by focusing on capabilities and expanding possibilities, and creates a welcoming environment where participants feel they belong and are valued. Programs are tailored to individual interests and needs from childhood to adulthood, with a mission that includes families and programs that foster joy and fulfillment, and a vision of communities where people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their families, are seen, included, and supported. AbilityFirst provides program centers throughout Greater Los Angeles and a fully accessible sleepaway camp in the San Bernardino National Forest, and pioneered some of California’s first community-based services for children with disabilities. AbilityFirst set a national benchmark for accessibility with the design and construction of one of the country’s first fully accessible camps, Camp Paivika, and sponsored and helped secure passage of California State Senate Bill 309, which ensured young adults with developmental disabilities could participate in after-school programs throughout high school. In 2000, the organization formally adopted the name AbilityFirst to reflect its forward-looking mission and enduring commitment to access, inclusion, and belonging.

Last updated June 30, 2026.