New Play, Active Recreation and Sport Disability Strategy aims to break barriers
A vision for disabled people to participate in a greater range of play, active recreation and sport opportunities has officially been launched in Hawke's Bay, and is believed to be the first of its kind regionally.
The Hawke’s Bay Play, Active Recreation and Sport Disability Strategy was developed by Sport Hawke's Bay's Disability Advisory Group in partnership with the wider disabled community, whānau and support organisations.
Sport Hawke's Bay Disability and Inclusion Advisor Katie Owen says the strategy sets the trajectory for the region, with a clear target for 2024.
"There are lots of really cool things happening in our region and it's just an important way to bring it all together."
"And it's important to mention that it's not just a Sport Hawke's Bay strategy as such, it is a regional strategy, so it is not just us driving it and I think that carries quite a bit of weight and increases opportunities for disabled people."
Sport New Zealand's 2018 Spotlight on Disability Report found that disabled people around the country participate less in any given week, and in few sports and activities than non-disabled people. Additionally, it found the gap is biggest for disabled people in confidence, competence, and opportunity to take part in activities of their choice, compared with non-disabled people.
In 2020 Sport Hawke’s Bay undertook a Community Information Gathering Project to better understand the needs, barriers and opportunities as identified by disabled people, whānau, disability organisations, and local sport and recreation providers regarding inclusion in Play, Active Recreation and Sport.
While there are a couple of "great opportunities" already available, Owen says there are definitely things that could be made more inclusive.
"It is about increasing the opportunities for disabled people to be active where at the moment there might only be one or two opportunities and if you don't like them it's a bit tricky.
"So to get to a point where there's actually a suite of options and you can choose how you would like to be included and which activities you would like to participate in is pretty much the gold standard of what we are working towards."
She says the skills people learn from are "pretty powerful".
"Not only is it really beneficial in terms of the physical health, but also all the soft skills that come out of being involved in sport and a team with communication, learning how to take turns and building friendship."
The first year is all about building better relationships and understanding what the community wants and needs.
"And there might be some really small wins that come out of that, that we just hadn't thought of.
"So building those relationships is the first key but also going through our strategy and putting a bit of a timeline on it for the next year and mapping it out."
