Disability Discrimination Act
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) aims to end the discrimination which many disabled people face, giving disabled people the same rights to sport facilities and services. The DDA states that it is against the law for schools and facilities to discriminate against an individual for a reason related to their disability.
How can your club make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to include disabled people?
There are a number of areas that your club can address in order to include disabled people. Here are a few to get you started:
- Talk to disabled people; through consultation and working with disabled people your club can start to consider areas of operation and activity that need to change.
- Establish how accessible your club facilities are. By carrying out an access audit your club can start to plan for any physical changes that might need to be made. Information on how to do this is shown on the Sport England Access for Disabled People Guidance Note (see below).
- Consider how your club currently promotes its activities.
- Increase the knowledge of key club officials, volunteers and coaches through training.
- Ensure the clubs constitution and any related club policies reflect the inclusive approach that needs to be adopted.
Further guidance:
More guidance and support on the DDA can be found on the following websites:
Sport England
http://www.sporetengland.org/index/get_resources/disability_discrimination_legislation.htm
Disability Access Audit of Sports Facilities
http://www.sportengland.org/audit-sheets.pdf