What's the future for disability sport?

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

The Paralympics is currently happening. :party2:

While it's going on, I thought it would be worth having a chat about disability sport in the UK (and abroad) and thinking about what more needs to be done?

At a national/internation level, Paralympics GB is an incredibly strong force in world para sport. And National lottery funding is a big part of that.

More locally, at universities, BUCS has recently incorporated para sports into its competitions. If you're a university student participating in sports, were you aware of this?

How inclusive is your school of disabilities? I remember PE lessons where a host of people would often be sat at the side of the sports hall due to not being "well enough" / injured to participate. Do we need to be more inclusive here to make activities more accessible for everyone?

Share your experiences below. :smile:

Reply 1

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by 04MR17

The Paralympics is currently happening. :party2:

I don’t know what it’s like to be disabled in sports, but the challenges seem obvious. At its heart sport is about competition and many traditional sports don’t cater to people for various reasons, so for people with disabilities I can imagine it is very hard to get involved even if they are interested especially at universities where performance is often a priority.

I think it’s great BUCS are introducing these sports into the fray, these sports allow sport to be sport; and keep competition and athletic skill at the heart of it but enable participation to wider area’s.

Im not a fan of trophies for all, and not keeping count of the score. So I think these moves by BUCS are needed, universities have the resources and facilities to host such events and can connect students with disabilities to participation in sport.