English Federation of Disability Sport release report to increase sporting participation and physical activity for disabled people

The English Federation of Disability Sport has released a report to enable more disabled people to enjoy an active lifestyle.

Created in partnership with Disability Rights UK, the report called “Being Active”, talks directly to disabled people. It gives inactive disabled people access to relevant information, so they have control over where, what and how they can start being active.

According to Sport England’s Active People Survey four out of five disabled people take little or no exercise and research highlights that most disabled people are not as active as they would like to be.

This is not to say that disabled people don't want to be more active. In the Lifestyle Report released in 2013, it found that seven in ten disabled people want to increase their physical activity.

This is where the "Being Active" report comes in. It aims to improve the number of disabled people choosing to lead an active lifestyle and provides enough guidance on where to start.

Disability Rights UK teamed up with EFDS to ensure the guide reaches as many disabled people across the UK as possible and it was published on the International Day of Disabled People (December 3).

Barry Horne, EFDS’s Chief Executive, said:

“Being Active is a brilliant starting point for many disabled people. We have used our own insight from studies, like the recent 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. Then, worked together to provide realistic ideas.”

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

“We are aware that four in five people disabled people take little or no exercise, however we understand there is latent demand for disabled people to play sport. Sport England are involved in many different projects to attract more disabled people to play sport more often, and we will continue that work hard so that the imbalance of disabled and non-disabled people in this area is significantly reduced. The publication of the ‘Being Active’ guide will hopefully give disabled people interested in being more active information and advice to help get them started.”

To find out more about the guide and the EFDS's work, click here.

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