{"id":19268,"date":"2020-03-13T10:51:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T10:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukactive.com\/news\/as-a-sector-we-need-to-come-together-and-be-more-inclusive\/"},"modified":"2020-03-13T10:51:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-13T10:51:00","slug":"as-a-sector-we-need-to-come-together-and-be-more-inclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukactive.com\/cy\/news\/as-a-sector-we-need-to-come-together-and-be-more-inclusive\/","title":{"rendered":"As a sector we need to come together and be more inclusive"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Huw Edwards, CEO of ukactive and the Government\u2019s Disability Champion for the Leisure Sector<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a sector, we know about the benefits of physical activity and its ability to help manage long-term conditions. That is why we work hard to turn the tide of physical inactivity and promote what our sector can do to get more people to take part in physical activity to improve their lives.<\/p>\n

However, we as an industry can do more. For some people, the barriers to physical activity can seem insurmountable. This can be particularly true for disabled people, who have often not had a positive experience of sport and physical activity and face a number of barriers \u2013 or perceived barriers \u2013 to being active.<\/p>\n

Research from our partners at Sport England shows that disabled people are twice as likely<\/a> to be inactive than non-disabled people, despite four in five disabled people stating that they would like to become more active.<\/p>\n

There has been some tremendous work undertaken across the sector by organisations such as the Activity Alliance, Disability Rights UK, and Sense, to address these stubborn inequalities in activity among disabled people, and we now have the opportunity to work with these partners, and Sport England, to strengthen our sector\u2019s contribution to this important agenda.<\/p>\n

An example of this is the Gall Pawb<\/a> programme, which aims to change perceptions around disabled people\u2019s participation in physical activity and support the sector to become more inclusive.<\/p>\n

Everyone Can will aim to drive forward changes within the fitness and leisure sector to ensure disabled people feel equipped and welcomed to be physically active in our sector\u2019s facilities.<\/p>\n

Over the past few months this work has begun in earnest, and ukactive has undertaken a comprehensive review of existing evidence on disabled people\u2019s participation in physical activity, alongside focus groups with disabled people, the disability charities, and the fitness sector.<\/p>\n

We engaged with more than 40 organisations to collaborate and develop the programme, and explore how we can improve services for disabled people.<\/p>\n

These focus groups brought together disability champions from across the retail, transport, music and hospitality sectors, along with physical activity sector leaders, government representatives, and stakeholders from a range of leading health and disability charities, to discuss what more we can do.<\/p>\n

Initial findings suggest that upskilling the workforce, enhancing levels of customer service and engaging better with disabled people are core themes, along with reviewing physical facilities, providing more information, and communicating that gyms and leisure centres are open to all.<\/p>\n

The next stage of the Everyone Can programme will begin in the coming months with the following steps:<\/p>\n