Inclusive Sport

Why Be Inclusive

Being inclusive has many benefits for your community or workplace. Being inclusive can:

• Help attract new members
• Welcome more customers and participants
• Build a strong sense of community
• Show that your organisation is inclusive and welcoming
• Encourage more people to visit your website or premises
• Help you understand individual needs and supports
• Help meet safety and duty of care requirements.

Inclusion can help communities grow and change in positive ways. It creates chances to work together through events, groups and shared activities.

Showing care and respect for individual needs builds trust. This helps people feel connected and supports long-lasting relationships.

Challenges for People with Disability in Community Clubs

People with disability should have the same chance as everyone else to join local clubs and take part in activities.

Joining a sport or recreation club can help people stay active, make new friends and feel connected to their community.

But sometimes people with disability can face barriers to joining a club, such as:

• People making assumptions about what someone can or cannot do
• Activities that are not changed to include everyone
• Locations that are difficult to move in
• Bathrooms or change rooms that are not accessible to all
• Information that is unclear, hard to understand or not shared in accessible ways.

These barriers can stop people from joining or enjoying a club.

When clubs understand these barriers and work to remove them, more people can take part. This helps create clubs where everyone feels welcome, supported and included.