EFDS Talk to Me report aims to increase disabled participation and opportunities in sport

Disabled people are set to benefit from the English Federation of Disability Sport’s latest publication which aims to create better opportunities for athletes.

The Talk to Me report provides guidelines for sport and fitness providers to ensure that disabled people are offered more appealing opportunities in sport and physical activity.

Currently less than half the number of disabled people take part in sport or physical activity for 30 minutes once a week than non-disabled people.

However, when compared to the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) research which showed that seven in ten disabled people want to take part in more sport and physical activity, it becomes clear that a significant gaps exists.

Barry Horne, EFDS’s Chief Executive explains:

"Whilst many sport and physical activity providers already offer opportunities for disabled people to take part, the low participation level suggests that either disabled people are unaware of opportunities available to them or what they are offered is not appealing enough."

"This report allows us all to understand how we can make opportunities attractive so that many more disabled people can be active for life."

The detailed report, which can be found here came out with three recommendations on how to raise and encourage participation:

• Drive awareness
• Engage the audience
• Offer support and reassurance

Barry Horne, EFDS’s Chief Executives, continues:

"Talk to Me confirms findings we have seen in our ongoing research. We know that a great majority of disabled people are more likely to respond to opportunities to get active which tap into the things that matter to them most."

"These include: building connections, family and support systems and health. Simply having fun is what most of us seek out, and more often than not disabled people are looking for opportunities which are as likely to appeal to their non-disabled friends and family."

Lisa O’Keefe, Sport England’s Director of Insight, said:

“Sport England's priority at the grassroots is to make sport a practical choice for many more disabled people. We support EFDS’ insight work in order to further understand what disabled people want in terms of playing sport and taking part in physical activity, and how to make these offers more appealing.”

EFDS plans to test how effectively organisations apply the evidence and follow these guidelines, and assess how successful they are in increasing disabled people’s participation.

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