Peter Ackred is making sports spaces more inclusive.
Have you ever felt the sting of rejection when your name was one of the last to be called out by your classmates to join their side in PE? Then maybe you got a little taste of what it’s like to be left on the sidelines of sport. But if you are disabled, being left out of sport is sadly an all too familiar experience. It can start from a young age. Local parks may lack adapted play equipment or PE teachers at school may lack the knowledge to adapt sports equipment to everyone’s needs. Disabled people are twice as likely to be inactive as non-disabled people, according to Sport England. This statistic does not come as a surprise as disabled people face huge barriers to participation in sports.
This sidelining of disabled people is often found in most schools, colleges and community groups that cannot always provide inclusive sports activities. This causes a glaring gap in sports provision for disabled people. People are locked out of sports. Many cannot access gyms or leisure centres independently and sometimes it is not just the physical barriers to participation. Neurodiverse members of clubs and gyms need a friendly, calm and accepting environment in which to exercise.
A huge part of what drives my passion for standing up against sidelining in sports is my personal experience of being on the sidelines. I have a severe stammer and at one stage I was rejected in 39 interviews while looking for a job in sports development. No one should be left out of sports, or life, and I want to do all I can to build a more inclusive world.
Guidance from the UK’s Chief Medical Officer says that disabled children and young people should be doing twenty minutes of daily exercise, as well as doing strength and balance activities three times a week. There are so many more benefits of keeping active for disabled children, such as improved confidence, a sense of achievement and better physical and mental health.
Are we doing all we can to make this happen? Disabled people do not belong on the fringes of sport, and their inclusion should not just be an afterthought. Inclusive sport needs to be hardwired into our education system. In this Paralympic Year, we owe it to the disabled children in PE lessons up and down the country to make sports fully accessible to them, so they too can follow their dreams. They deserve nothing less.
Peter Ackred
Peter Ackred is the CEO of Disability Sports Coach, a London-based charity that uses the power of sport and physical activity to enhance the lives of disabled people.
Website: disabilitysportscoach.org.uk
X: @DSC_13
Facebook: @DisabilitySportsCoach2013
Instagram: @disability_sports_coach
LinkedIn: @disabilitysportscoach