On the 5th November Disability Sport Wales were extremely proud and grateful to be part of Learning Disability Wales national conference, Heart and Soul.
The thematic theme of the conference was wellbeing, therefore providing an excellent platform to demonstrate and evidence through our ROAR project that inclusive sports and volunteering significantly improves the wellbeing of young people who have a learning impairment.
Facilitating the workshops were James Ledger (Disability Sport Wales Athlete Mentor), Steve Morris (London 2012 Paralympian) and Rhys Saunders (Swansea Gold Young Ambassador), who combined to deliver fantastic and accessible workshops for the audience, as Harriett Johnson from Learning Disability Wales quoted:
“I would just like to thank you guys so much for facilitating such a fantastic workshop at our annual conference, Heart and Soul, last week. We really do appreciate you giving up your time and for the obvious effort you put into preparing for the day. You gave such fantastic workshops and we can see that you put a lot of thought into making it as accessible as possible which we are very grateful for”
ROAR project coordinator Darren Wyn Jones (Disability Sport Wales) said “Having worked with the guys over the past few months it was a proud moment to watch them deliver one of the most inspiring and accessible workshops I have seen. They were tremendous. It is another example of the ROAR project unlocking the potential of young people with impairment, and in doing so we are able to bring so much more added value to our volunteer workforce.”
One of the workshop volunteers, Rhys Saunders from Bishop Gore High School in Swansea who came through the ROAR project, was recently successful in his appointment as a Gold Young Ambassador, the first young person with a learning impairment in Swansea to have achieved this. During the workshop in a Q&A with his mentor, James Ledger, Rhys said “Before I started ROAR, I never had the same chances to take part in sport as everyone else… I wasn’t involved… but now I can take part & provide sport chances to my friends… ROAR has helped my confidence, given me loads of skills I didn’t know I had and my school work is much better”
Early evidence suggests that ROAR is achieving key outcomes linked to the Welsh Government Agenda such as wellbeing, skills for life and social inclusion; therefore Disability Sport Wales are continuing to share the learning of the project to extend its reach across Wales. In the meantime, the ROAR project continues its roll-out across Swansea through its dedicated and inclusive Active Young People team and their Young Ambassador workforce.
If you want further information about the ROAR project please contact Darren Wyn Jones at darren.jones@disabilitysportwales.com
Please refer to the Roaring with Pride (Easy-Read) for more information.
What is the ROAR project?
The ROAR project is a unique and innovative peer support and mentoring project run in partnership between Disability Sport Wales and the City & County of Swansea Council. The project aims to develop young people with a learning impairment by providing equitable and equal opportunity through leadership development & volunteering opportunities to ensure that those individuals are fairly represented on youth volunteer programmes e.g. Young Ambassadors.
Non-disabled young volunteers provide peer-support for young people with a learning impairment with the aim of challenging their own perceptions of disability, whilst Disability Sport Wales athletes are recruited as role models, thus promoting positive attitudes towards young people with disabilities.
