£3.54m investment will help get more adults with disabilities playing sport

24th March 2010

Sport England is investing £3.54 million into nine national disability sports organisations. The funding will focus on inclusion, integrating the sport on offer to disabled and non-disabled people, thus creating more sporting opportunities for all.

"With only one in 15 disabled adults playing sport regularly - and a decline in that number over the past year - there is a clear need for a change of direction," says Sport England's chief executive, Jennie Price. "Our investment will create the right environment for increased participation by disabled people."

Ultimately, the investment aims to create more schemes like the British Canoe Union's integrated Paddleability programme.

This programme promotes and develops canoeing for people with learning difficulties and physical disabilities. It concentrates on what individual paddlers can do, rather than what they can't, and rewards them with recreational and competitive personal performance awards. A disability awareness course for coaches and volunteers complements the programme.

Results from our Active People Survey suggest that this approach works - the number of disabled canoeing participants has doubled in the past year.

£1.54m of Exchequer funding will be invested in the English Federation of Disability Sport, which has recently undergone a major review and launched a new strategy.

"This welcome increase in Sport England funding will help us and our member organisations halt and then reverse the decline in sports participation amongst people with disabilities," says EFDS chair, Professor David Croisdale-Appleby. "It is an exciting development for everyone involved."

£2m of National Lottery funding is available for applications from the EFDS and its eight member organisations.

These are:

British Amputee and Les Autre Sports Association
British Blind Sport
CP Sport
Mencap Sport
UK Deaf Sport
Wheelpower
Dwarf Athletic Association
Special Olympics
No other organisation is eligible to apply for this money.

A further £8 million of National Lottery funding has been ring-fenced for investment in sport for disabled people over the next two years. We are working with the sector to identify specific barriers to disabled participation and understand how we can best target this investment to ensure the best results for sport for disabled people.