Six months on our manifesto is as relevant as ever
Cameron joined Actvitiy Alliance following this year’s general election. In a period that has seen significant political change, as well as a summer of fantastic sport, our work influencing policy change will play a huge role in ensuring disabled people have access to sport and physical activity. Here he shares his thoughts six months on from the release of our manifesto asks.
Certain moments have the capability to grab the imagination of the British public. They become memories that we cherish for years to come, and this summer of sport provided plenty of those moments.
Before the Olympics and Paralympics got underway, it is important to remember that there was a fairly significant event taking place on this side of the Channel - a General Election. Needless to say it changed the political landscape significantly, with a number of constituencies changing hands and a Labour Government coming into place.
With an election on the cards, we were well prepared to influence and advocate for the key changes that we wanted to see introduced to tackle the ‘fairness gap’ – what we call the difference between disabled and non-disabled people’s activity levels. With this in mind, we produced our general election manifesto to outline our key asks.
Six months on from the release we can reflect on the work we’re doing to build relationships and collaborate with others to make a difference in policy. With any new government comes new introductions, with Ministers, and Chairs. We are working hard to ensure Activity Alliance’s work and insight is shared across all parties and gives much-needed policy change as much evidence as possible.
Our manifesto was developed with contributions and insight from disabled people, advocates and organisations in the sport, physical activity and voluntary sector. There are 16 million disabled people in the UK. Yet, disabled people face many barriers that can make it more challenging to access and take part in meaningful sport and physical activity.
We all deserve the right to move, take part in sport or be physically active however we choose to be. Nobody must feel excluded or forgotten as we strive for a happier, healthier, more active nation. To ensure disabled people have equal access to sport and physical activity, we called upon the government to protect the benefits of disabled people, equip health and care workers effectively to embed physical activity in their work & increase accessible outdoor spaces. That means we must:
- Provide clearer understanding and wider safeguarding to reassure disabled people that being regularly active will not threaten their benefits and other forms of government financial assistance
- With the NHS, ensure that better processes are in place for health and care workers to support disabled people to use physical activity in ways which work best for them.
- Take a leading role in promoting and legislating design standards that ensure accessibility in local and national spaces.
Working collaboratively we will go some way in closing the fairness gap. With disabled people twice as likely to be inactive as their non-disabled peers it is upon us all to work to create a fairer society. But we know our work lobbying and educating across all levels of policy is going to be vital if we are to see the change we are fighting for.
