July 08 Blog - Disability Sport Focus

Hello and welcome to a special blog focussing on the work of the English Federation of Disability Sport and the Inclusive Fitness Initiative and introducing the key regional colleagues from both organistions.

Hi I’m Mark Healy, I’m the East Region Development Manager for English Federation of Disability Sport.

The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) has been helping to improve the range and quality of sporting opportunities available to disabled people since 1998. The Government sees the EFDS as the “Umbrella” organisation for Disability Sport and we have a presence in all nine Sport England Regions.

My primary role is to support Sport England East, the six County Sport Partnerships and the National Governing Bodies in all areas pertaining to Disability Sport. I am a key member of the regional steering group whose responsibility is the planning and delivery of the “Playground to Paralympic Podium” initiative.

The initiative provides a framework for identifying and supporting disabled players and athletes who demonstrate potential in particular sports. Jointly developed with Youth Sport Trust, UK Sport, and Paralympics GB, the initiative plays an important part in Sport England’s wider goal of investing in community sport to create a world leading community sports system.

Mark Healy
East Region Development Manager
English Federation of Disability Sport
Street & Leisure Services
Colchester Borough Council
PO Box 331, Town Hall
Colchester
CO1 1GL
01206 507890
07764 291664
EMail

Website

Hi I’m Carla Raven, I have recently been appointed as the Inclusive Fitness Initiative (IFI) Regional Activator for the East of England.

The main aim of the Inclusive Fitness Initiative (IFI) is to create more accessible services to disabled users within leisure facilities.

Research by the IFI is carried out in conjunction with Sheffield Hallam University and work is done with suppliers to create accessible equipment. Access within facilities themselves also provides a key focus of the programme. IFI Project Coordinators visit sites and conduct access audits on particular facilities that want to reach accreditation standard. Facilities reach accreditation standard once they have made the necessary alterations to the facility, have undergone an access audit, have purchased accessible equipment and staff have undertaken relevant training. This training ranges from disability equality training for all facility staff to NVQ level three qualifications for fitness instructors and allows staff to provide a better service to disabled users.

The Inclusive Fitness Initiative is managed by Montgomery Leisure Services on behalf of the English Federation of Disability Sport Operating Company (EFDS OC), the funding originated from Sport England and as the IFI has progressed funding has been granted from other organisations, for example most recently from the National Sports Foundation.

My role as a regional activator is to “activate” sites once they have been awarded accreditation to ensure that they remain proactive and engage with their local disabled community. The main objective of my work is to support sites to increase usage by disabled people within their facility. I empower sites to develop inclusive marketing strategies, make community links, conduct outreach work, make partnerships with disability organisations and to organise inclusive activities. I also encourage sites to share examples of good practice amongst themselves and act as a link officer between them. In addition to this I tie sites into links that I make with regional networks and disability organisations where possible.

It is important that sites employ an inclusive attitude within the whole facility, starting at reception. In order to ensure a holistic attitude is employed training levels need to be maintained due to staff turnover.

There are national mass participation events that occur throughout the year which act as promotion campaigns to encourage disabled users to take part in exercise and to increase awareness of physical activity opportunities for disabled users and the IFI. The aim is for sites from all regions to work together in promoting inclusive activity. Inclusive Fitness Week was recently held which worked with sites nationally to promote inclusive fitness by encouraging each IFI site to make a contribution to promote inclusive fitness. The activities across the country varied from free inductions to multi activity events (for more details please look on www.inclusivefitness.org) the week was a large success in raising awareness.

The second part of my role is to work with disability, sport and physical activity organisations at a regional level and develop partnerships with public, private and voluntary sector organisations. I will also support the delivery of marketing seminars, and engage with the fitness industry to market in a more inclusive fashion. The aim is for awareness created at regional level to filter through to community level. In turn working with sites to raise awareness of the benefits of physical activity and facilitate the breaking down of barriers which prevent disabled people from participating in physical activity.

Carla Raven
IFI Regional Activator, East Region
c/o Sport England East
Crescent House
19 The Crescent
Bedford
MK40 2QP
07508 033889
EMail
Website