Accessible sport is so popular now! Here are some ideas of play locations!

We are all more and more aware of the dangers of sedentary lifestyles! With a fifth of the people in England officially recognised as physically or mentally impaired the number is nearly twelve million citizens (this data is directly from the DWP Family Resources Survey 2015/16)! Those citizens are more than double on the inactive index when contrasted with physically and mentally average citizens (again this data is supported, this time coming from Sport England). Yet over two thirds of physically and mentally impaired citizens would like to be more involved in sport and/or health and fitness!

The British Paralympic winner Baroness Grey-Thompson (several times a winner) after conducting her own analysis concluded that,“The barriers [to participation] range from accessibility to staff training, but the good news is the physical activity sector is committed to delivering inclusive services for all.

“With ukactive, the not-for-profit body comprised of members and partners from across the UK active lifestyle sector, we are working with Sport England on the ‘Everyone Can’ project to create a cultural shift and change perceptions around disabled people’s participation in physical activity.”

Where do you begin though! Thankfully here in association with ever evolving stair lifts manufacturer Acorn Stairlifts a range of the most sought after sports, health and fitness options plus where to locate centres is discussed in a little more detail!

How many people are taking part?

Many different perfectly available sports, health and fitness regimes are loved by multitudes of citizens globally! In fact the Paralympics competition is seeing increases in the number of sports they are at every Paralympic competition From 2012 in London to 2016 in Rio the number of competing events rose by seven to one hundred and seventy seven events! with 1136 competitors and 146 teams the sports included, table tennis, soccer, cycle events, swimming to name only a few and world records were broken 69 times!

Citizens with visual impairment and complete loss of sight are competing at the Paralympics! In blind Soccer the influx of competitors has been staggering, its one of the fastest growing sports across Paralympics (again this data is supported, this time coming from the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA)! 36 countries in 4 continents and a 28% points increase represents a more that 70% increase in participation between 2013 and 2015! Teams from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe were involved in this staggering growth!

IBSA an official body said, “Statistics released by IBSA show how blind football is expanding and growing globally to become one of the most popular Paralympic sports in the world. Data compiled from all the official IBSA 2017 international blind football championships show a significant increase in the number of countries taking part in the events and an expansion of the game to reach new parts of the world.”

Actually in Great Britain we have obtained data that dives a little deeper into the stats from that region revealing some startling developments!

Nearly 13,000 physically impaired citizens having been tennis monthly across Britain in venues friendly to their needs in 2018. Similarly the Soccer Association had one thousand participants every week (stats up to Jan 2017) with neayly 100 powerchair soccer teams who had joined up to the organisation!

Take Wheelchair Basketball in the United Kingdom. Every day people are playing over 1,000 hrs across Britain!

Turn our attention to just the UK and there’s plenty more positive statistics to discover, such as…

Its not surprise what Jill Osleger (Jill is the Tennis Foundation’s National Disability Development Manager) stated,“We are absolutely delighted with the impact our work in driving disability tennis is having. To have turned what we launched in 2013 into one of the biggest disability-specific sports development programes in the country is a phenomenal achievement.” she also clarified that, “Tennis really is an adaptable sport that can be for anyone, and there are proven benefits for a person’s physical and mental health, social life and personal development. We’d encourage anyone to get along to a session, pick up a racket and give it a go!”

People are constantly joining in… So, where do you go for information?

Thankfully lots of work has been done in this area! Parasport have compiled handy easy to use guides to where to go to get involved! Its quite a long data sheet, with a great many places to access accessible sport listed, all over the United Kingdom. their mission is community based and about sharing experiences citizens who play para-sport have.

They have Twenty Two Athletics, wheelchair triathlon or para-triathlon opportunities.

Fifteen tennis facilitators are available (venues are listed for wheelchair tennis also)

Thirty eight soccer playing facilitators are named and power-chair soccer is an option.

Eighteen wheelchair basketball playing options are listed.

Parasport have 160 options to get involved in their list in Great Britain covering 60 different types of event/sport or just getting out their and being active, that’s lots to choose from for all tastes.

People are careful about their choices, understandably. That is why Baroness Grey-Thompson encourages stating, “this publication could change your life”, because with her voice more and more people are listening and hearing that their venues and ways to get involved all over the place and many within travelling distance of almost everyone in the United Kingdom. More information on this can be found by checking out the, Disability Rights UK’s comprehensive Doing Sport Differently guide

Baroness Grey-Thompson, stated just after this,

“The ideas and suggestions in this guide and the stories of others’ experiences helped me to think about what I wanted. Just as you will, I found the right way for me.

“Sport and sports facilities are far more accessible to all than they were when I started racing in the 1980s. Doing Sport Differently is the first-ever guide to sport written by disabled people for disabled people designed to enable us to take full advantage of this. There is no reason why we shouldn’t get as much out of sport and exercise as non-disabled people. I am living proof of that.”