Changing inactive disabled people into activity enthusiasts is not a quick task

Following last week's publication of the Being Active report, Chris Ratcliffe, Development Director at the EFDS, blogs about the barriers that stop disabled people from being active and how Being Active aims to help.

Working at the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) and being an active disabled person, I appreciate the discussions we create when encouraging more disabled people to be active.

We often find people saying; “My barriers are different to other disabled people”; “I can’t find anything local to me that I want to take part in”; “I don’t have enough support, time or money to be active”.

Inactive disabled people have individual reasons why their experiences have meant they have stopped doing, do not want to or feel they can not access sport or physical activity. They’re personal so can’t be solved in one quick swoop.

In contrast, active disabled people can respond with statements like “It’s easy- just be motivated”; “I did it, so can you”; “Winning gold has inspired me”.

We need to make the transition from being inactive to active an easier, more accessible one. It’s not simply one day disabled people are inactive and then the next day they choose an active lifestyle. There are many more phases involved and anyone can lag in-between or even after.

Indeed, sport and physical activity have various barriers. For many disabled people there can be additional barriers like access, communication, transport and lack of support within activities.

We found in our own 2012 research that psychological barriers cause the most limitations. That’s the attitudes of people towards disabled people as well as the perceptions of disabled people themselves.

Research shows that most disabled people are not as active as they would like to be. According to Sport England’s Active People Survey four out of five disabled people take little or no exercise. But that is not because disabled people do not want to be active. In the EFDS Lifestyle Report released in 2013, we found that seven in ten disabled people want to increase their physical activity.

As well as the many programmes we are involved in or working on, we unveiled “Being Active” last week. It gives inactive disabled people access to relevant information, so they have control over where, what and how they can start being active.

Disability Rights UK teamed up with EFDS to ensure the guide reaches more disabled people across the country. We used our own insight from studies, like the Talk to Me report, and called upon those experts in the disability sector, to address the real life barriers that many disabled people experience when thinking about sport or exercise.

Being Active was produced by and for people with lived experience of disability or health conditions. I was one of them. It is a brilliant starting point for many disabled people.

Resources like this will no doubt support individuals to make lifestyle choices. The real impact comes when we open up conversations with more disabled people and their influencers. EFDS is looking forward to building on the connections, engagement and networks that ensure active lives are possible.

The Being Active guide is available in accessible PDF and EasyRead formats and you can download them here.

For more information about opportunities near you, contact EFDS on 01509 227750
Email at: federation@efds.co.uk
www.efds.co.uk
 

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