Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson Shares Her Hopes for 2012 With Sports Think Tank

Posted: Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:41

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson Shares Her Hopes for 2012 With Sports Think Tank

The Olympic and Paralympic Games have been part of my life for almost as long as I can remember. I can remember all the talks of boycotts at the 1980 Games, and who could forget the men on space packs at the Opening Ceremony of LA in 1984. But to have a Games on home soil is something that I think we should celebrate.

One of the reasons that I got involved in the bid process was because I saw how important it could be for shaping inclusion of disabled young people, not just in school sport, but also from grass roots to elite. To put it in to context, when the bid started, Lottery funding had only been around for a few short years, and most Governing Bodies were coming to terms with the implications of truly accountable funding. Many of those same NGB's had had limited contact with the 'Paralympic' side of their sports and were building relationships and moving towards greater inclusion, at the elite end to begin with.

Some sports were way ahead of the field, but we shouldn't forget that the Paralympic movement grew up out of exclusions and in some cases discrimination. I always hoped that by having a Games on home soil it would accelerate those relationships and give better access.

The good points are there are better pathways for disabled children and the increase in media coverage has meant at the elite end, better sponsorship deals and public support.

But, there is no better time to keep pushing the message that disabled children need to be included as far as possible, but also in some circumstances segregated sport can work too. Take for example my sport, wheelchair racing, you can compete alongside a runner on an track, but the basic element of sport is that you compete against people in a similar way.

There is always more that can be done. I still hear cases of disabled children who are not allowed to take part in school PE, because of the dreaded health and safety. And, my husband who went to check out a Talent ID day for wheelchair users last year, overhead someone say that they hadn't actually brought any wheelchair users as 'they were really hard to get on the bus'.

If ever I think that I can sit back and relax about sport, then this is something that motivates me to keep doing more. Whatever system is in place for school sport and beyond, it has to work for more children, including girls and disabled people, and not just those who are 'good' at sport. If we don't change the pattern of participation then we have wasted a chance. The Olympics and Paralympics will still have been worth the investment, and I stand by that even if the figures go nowhere, but there is no better time to try. The benefits of a fitter and healthier population of disabled people will be far reaching and way beyond medal success.

Tags: 2012, Disability Sport, Paralympics, Tanni Grey-thompson

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