International Day of Disabled People, 3rd December 2013

This year the theme is 'Break barriers and open doors: to realise an inclusive society for all'

The International Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the achievements of disabled people and their contribution to society.

On the International Day of Disabled People, Level Playing Field would like to thank our members and partners for their support and commitment to helping to improve access and inclusion for disabled sports fans. On this day we are inviting all sports clubs and venues to take a few minutes to consider any access improvements they could make to their facilities and services that would benefit disabled fans and to share with us their news on any adaptions currently being planned.

Ruth Hopkins, NRAC Auditor and Access and Development Manager at Level Playing Field says, “Level Playing Field continues to work with clubs and individuals across all sports to find solutions to the barriers disabled spectators face. Level Playing Field is proud of our achievements to date but we recognise there is still a lot of work to do. Communication is key and sharing ideas and best practice will all help to achieve an inclusive spectator experience. We encourage fans to support the work we do by keeping us updated when they visit clubs and sports arenas and by becoming a LPF member.”

Links are available on our website showing what can be expected from an accessible stadia including the Accessible Stadia 'Access for All' the UEFA and CAFE Good Practice Guide to Creating an Accessible Stadium and Matchday Experience and Accessible Stadia Guide can be found here.

Becoming accessible doesn’t necessarily involve significant costs and there are many simple, practical and achievable ways to help clubs be more inclusive. For example:

• When redecorating your club, choosing good colour contrast using your teams colours, can assist all supporters and espically partially sighted people
• In your club shop ensure clear circulation routes, trained staff and a floorwalker to assist your disabled customers
  
• Ensuring accessible toilets are available and kept clean, well serviced and supervised on matchdays should be a priority.

 Some important points to remember are :

• An accessible stadium is more sustainable, economical and flexible and demonstrate a club's commitment to their whole community.
• Enhance customer experiences – and they will be more likely to come back. The smallest changes can have the biggest impact.
  
• Always try to involve disabled people when making any decisions. From a Disabled Supporters Association- a user-led consultation group at your club.
• Don’t make assumptions based on a person’s ‘disability’.
• There is no “one size fits all” solution to being fully inclusive.
• The Equality Act is an evolving duty.

LPF is uniquely placed to deliver our Access Audit programme. Carried out by NRAC accredited Access Auditors and specifically written for sports stadia we can help clubs determine where they currently stand on accessibility, recognise what they are doing well and work with them to plan for improvements. More information about our audit programme can be found here.

Please continue to send us your fans comments, experiences as a disabled fan, ideas on how clubs could improve access or examples of good practice–by email to info@levelplayingfied.org.uk please include photos where possible or by posting a comment on the web page under the respective club you visited at www.levelplayingfield.org.uk. We are also happy to receive new ideas and to hear your experiences. LPF always feeds fans comments back to the respective clubs and venues with constructive feedback often leading to further improvements. Your comments can be posted anonymously if preferred.

CAFE 'Proof of Disability' research project: Final report announced

To mark the International Day of Disabled People 2013, CAFE are delighted to announce the findings of our recent European 'Proof of Disability' project, which was funded by the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS), Council of Europe.

Most significantly, 84% of disabled people agreed that that they would prefer a standardised European disabled persons ID card to assist the purchase of disabled fans tickets. In addition, 70% of the participants would prefer equal facilities to cheaper tickets. This became even more compelling when comparing 'disability groups' with 73% of wheelchair users and 80% of people with mental ill health preferring equal facilities rather than cheaper tickets. Read more. 

The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) will be releasing a guide to improve access for disabled people in sports clubs. “Access for all: Opening Doors” aims to break down one of the main barriers fordisabled people; venue accessibility. They will be using the hashtag #DoorsToActivity and have also set up a Thunderclap for people to support during the week. You can support it by clicking this link https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/7071-doors-to-activity. EFDS hope sport, fitness and other providers will promote their opportunities for disabled people. For full information go to their website here

The London Coaching Foundation is having a festival of sports, arts and community based activities for disabled and non-disabled people in East London. The Have a Go event is supported by Motivate East, an inclusive sports participation project for disabled and non-disabled people living in East London. Other organisations lined up to take part include Seg 87, the umbrella Paralympic cast dance team, Hackney Deaf Plus, Hackney Learning Disability Centre, the Alzheimer’s Society and TLC Care Services and the Stroke Project. The event takes place at the Cre8 Life Style Centre, 80 Eastway, Hackney Wick E9 5JH from 12noon to 5pm on December 3. The venue is accessible from street level via a platform lift and admission is free.

A group of four disabled servicemen set off to row across the Atlantic on Monday 2nd December, embarking on one of the biggest adventures of their lives rowing 3,000 miles to Antigua, spurred on by the memory of comrades in arms. See here for more information.  

The Office for Disability Issues will be publishing the second edition of Aspire 2, the online magazine which aims to inspire young disabled people to get involved with disability issues. The magazine’s theme will be Attitudes and it will include articles by the Minister of State for Disabled People, Mike Penning; Channel 4 presenter Alex Brooker; and Paralympian Louise Hunt.