Play Our Way

Fun and friendship are the poor relation to the more worthy issues of health and
education. Despite efforts to convince us of the importance of sport and leisure,
there’s still a sense that it’s a bit of a luxury.

But when we think of our own lives, isn’t spending time with friends at the top of our
priority list?

Play Our Way, a Mencap Cymru project funded by Children in Need supports young
people with a learning disability to socialise independently of their families, an elusive
pastime for many disabled young people.

It’s no coincidence that pupils at special schools often speak of their love for school
– it’s pretty straightforward really, school provides access to friends. Weekends and
holidays can often be quite lonely.

We support young people in counties across Wales to get involved in sport and
leisure. Together, we have tried joining a mainstream drama group, an archery class
and white water rafting. The young people we support have fun while also helping
to highlight the gaps in provision. In one council area this has resulted in improved
physical access within leisure centres.

While we’ve seen examples of coaches and instructors going out of their way to
include young people with a learning disability, it hasn’t always been the case. We
have sometimes been met with distrust and suspicion.

Often clubs will present problems; insurance, annual membership, capacity – all
perfectly plausible reasons but they serve only to disguise the real barrier to inclusion
– fear. …fear that inclusion will impact the composition of their group, fear around
their ability to adequately support and instruct an individual with a learning disability,
fear around parental interference and finally fear of litigation should something go
wrong.

So let’s be honest about it, inclusion is frightening.

So why are we still in this situation? Weren’t the Paralympics an endorsement of the
progress made? Yes we have celebrity Paralympians like Ellie Simmonds, but this
project isn’t about developing elite athletes, it’s a more basic aspiration for disabled
young people to make friends and take part in what’s going on in their community.

Attitudes are a problem, but it would be disingenuous to imply this is purely about
leisure providers. The reality is people with a learning disability are constantly being
protected, both by professionals and parents. This is understandable, but we need to
be upfront that the consequence can sometimes be segregation.

And this brings us back to fear. Instructors are afraid because they have little
understanding or experience, parents are afraid because they’re unsure instructors

have real understanding and the young people themselves are terrified because
they feel ill equipped to deal with new situations independently

Including people requires some imagination, flexibility, and self-confidence; one-off
training courses are rarely sufficient. Instructors need to spend time with individuals
to understand their needs; this is true if you have a disability or not. We need to be
willing to accept disabled people into mainstream activities. And they, their parents
and our clubs and leisure centres need to be willing to take a risk

Sian Davies, Mencap