insport Club Lead Officer's Resource Pack
Disability Sport Wales' Philosophy of Inclusion
The term inclusion is very commonly used in today’s vocabulary, but its meaning is often misinterpreted. Disability Sport Wales has a very clear perspective about what constitutes inclusion, and it is important that your club and all those involved with it.
In order to address the ‘challenges’ of inclusion there will need to be a very clear and evolving understanding of what inclusion means, and how this can be translated into their club context. What inclusion looks like for them, within their community, their sport, and their wider philosophy of providing opportunity to those who want to access it.
Inclusion relates to the meaningful provision of activity, opportunity and competition to disabled people within an appropriate sport, physical activity, and/or physical education environment. That might mean treating disabled people the same as non-disabled people, or it might be about treating disabled people differently. The central point to consider when making this judgement is that the decisions made should based on what is best for the (disabled) person, and what will most benefit everyone who is involved in the session.
Inclusion is about the process of arriving at the best outcome; it is the journey that counts, the quality of opportunity and the way in which people are treated, considered, communicated with, and provided for. It is not the end result which is in itself important, it is the journey that the individual has had whilst getting to that end result.
For example:
This is NOT inclusion
A Karateka arrives at a karate session; they use a wheelchair, automatically you tell the player that they should look out for a session involving a different sport, which is perhaps more suited to them as a wheelchair user, or that there is a wheelchair-specific club based at the hall down the road, and maybe that would be a better option.
The process has been based on assumptions about the person, their impairment and linked decisions relating to
their ability to participate or compete in karate; there doesn’t appear to be any interest in an outcome which
is best suited to the potential Karateka.
This IS inclusion
A Karateka arrives at a karate session, they use a wheelchair, you discuss with the player if they have been involved with karate before, and to what standard.
Have they received coaching before?
How do they feel about being involved in sessions with non-wheelchair users?
What modifications have coaches used before (if any)?
And so the questions may continue ... The answers from this will then lead you to perhaps suggest that they fi nd a specific wheelchair karate club (because they regularly enter tournaments where there are katas suited to their classification, and so being involved with that club would provide the most specifi c and appropriate form of training), or it may be that you tell them that you know of another wheelchair-specific sport played at a hall down the road if they would be interested in that (because actually the person has never done karate before, and is looking to get more active; they don’t mind which sport they get involved with).
The outcomes for the disabled person in the second example may very well be very similar to the outcomes identified in the first example above, but the process of arriving at these outcomes is vastly different.
In the second example, the process has been based on shared knowledge of experience, skill base, aspirations for participation and competition, and a proactive, enthusiastic and welcoming approach from the member of club staff.
In being involved in the insport Club programme your club will be challenged to consider the following:
- What their thought process is behind decisions they make regarding inclusive practice.
- Whether your club genuinely have the participant at the centre off all their planning, delivery and reflection.
- How your club can proactively consider inclusion at the heart of all decisions which will benefit existing or potential disabled members.
- Does the club have an interest in extending opportunities for as many people as possible?
- Is inclusion a philosophy that the whole club is going to sign up to, or will it just be the responsibility of one individual? (It needs to be the former rather than the latter for it to work)
