This e-book has been written and produced by Peter Downs andKen
Black for The Inclusion Club.We would like to thank the
contributors to this e-book, MartinMansell, Eli Wolff, Steffi de
Jong and Hamish Macdonald. Theircontribution not only helps the
production of this e-book but alsocontributes significantly to the
ongoing success of The InclusionClub.Giveaway RightsYou may give
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interested in the ideas here. Please encouragethem to check out The
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of this e-book,notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or
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andcontributors will not be responsible for any losses or damages
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Inclusion Club 2012 2
W h a t Is I n c l us ion?In this book we are going to explore
the concept of inclusionrelated to the provision of opportunities
in sport and physicalactivity for people with disability.Over the
years the term inclusion has been used acrossgovernments world wide
to describe practices that include, or atleast attempt to include,
all people regardless of ability, race,culture, age, gender and a
variety of other characteristics that areoften regarded as being
disadvantaged when it comes to gainingaccess to regular services,
including sport.Taken in isolation the term itself is simple enough
to understand.Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge in 2012,
describes it from adisability rights perspective:Inclusion is a
term used by people with disabilities and otherdisability rights
advocates for the idea that all people shouldfreely, openly and
without pity accommodate any person with adisability without
restrictions or limitations of any kind. 3
Inclusion has certainly been used in relation to sport for
sometime and has superseded terms such as mainstreaming
andintegration in recent years. We are not going to dene the
wordinclusion here or get stuck on semantics.Its only when you
start to discuss and probe a bit deeper intohow inclusion works
that you discover it can be quite complex. Itbecomes complex
because it involves things like attitudes,technical skills, ideas
of equal opportunity and human rights.In What is Inclusion? we are
simply going to explore whatinclusion in sport means in a practical
way by asking four veryexperienced and knowledgeable people. We are
sure they maynot like being called world experts but, between us,
they are!This book is divided into four chapters. Each chapter is
atranscript of an interview conducted with each of our fourexperts.
There is a short biography of each expert at the start oftheir
chapter, so youll know a little about their background
andexperience.The chapters are direct transcripts of the interviews
with a fewgrammatical improvements here and there. We have not
changedthe content or tried to make these perfect English. 4
Our hope is that these interviews stimulate your thoughts
andhelp your understanding of inclusion in sport and
physicalactivity for people with disability. Wed like to say a big
thanks toour contributors to this book - Martin, Eli, Stef and
Hamish.Please continue to make a dent in the world.This is an
Inclusion Club production. If you are not a member ofThe Inclusion
Club you can join for free by simply going to ourwebsite at
http://theinclusionclub.com. The Inclusion Club is allabout sharing
best practice in sport, physical activity anddisability. Wed love
to have you on board. Enjoy.Peter Downs and Ken BlackDirectors and
Founders of The Inclusion Club 5
! Martin Mansell 6
Martin Mansell has been involved in disability sportsince 1975.
First as a competitor with 2 ParalympicGames, two World, two
European championships and 15other international competitions (last
games 1998 Seoul,1 gold 2 sliver 1 bronze, swimming) and later as a
coach.In 1990, as a result of the sports ministers reportBuilding
on Ability which was an outcome from the 1988Seoul Paralympic
Games, he was appointed as one of therst professional Sports
Development Ofcers for Peoplewith Disabilities within a Local
Education Authority inEngland.In 1989 has was elected Chairperson
of the BritishParalympic Association Athletes Committee and later
asChairperson of the International Paralympic CommitteeAthletes
Commission and was a Director of the BritishParalympic Association
till January 2005 when he stooddown. He has been working with
Paralympics GB ontheir work on their Schools Education program
calledAbility v Ability. He also works for a number oforganizations
and in 1998 set up MJM Associates asadvisers on disability sport.
He works with organizationssuch as the Youth Sport Trust,
Paralympics GB, EnglishFederation of Disability Sports and NASUWT
as a 7
consultant to name just a few. In addition to this he hasbeen
involved in a number of other projects such asFloatsation
(www.oatsation.com) that is now one of hiscompanies as well as
working in a self-employedcapacity. 8
PeterIn a broad sense what do you understand by
inclusion?MartinI think in a very broad sense Peter, we are looking
atmaking sure that people with disabilities have equalopportunity
to take part in sport, physical activity andphysical education or
whatever environment peoplechose to do it in. I think that
historically we tend to thinkof inclusion as sport that is done by
the disabledalongside the non-disabled people, but that in reality
itsabout creating the opportunity to do whatever peoplechoose and
where they feel the most comfortableparticipating and whatever
level they choose.PeterDoes that include then disability specic
type activities?MartinI think it would, yes. We can look at
disability sport intwo ways. We can look at it as a sport that is
played onlyby disabled people or we can look at disability sport
asjust a form of sport that is played by disabled and non- 9
disabled. But I think that historically we have this issueabout
non-disabled people looking at disability sport asonly sports for
disabled people and therefore it excludesthem. So youve almost got
a concept of reverseexclusion in a way.I think the time is now that
we can allow thoseindividuals, whoever they are, to take up sports
such asboccia, goalball, wheelchair basketball, wheelchairrugby,
sitting volleyball it doesnt matter. The real issueis what the
competition structure allows. So as anexample of that I would
advocate that hypothetically, tocompete in the Paralympic Games or
a Disabled WorldChampionships you have to have a disability in the
sameway as if you want to compete in the under 15schampionships and
you are 16, therefore you are noteligible.PeterWhat about have
parallel activities for example, in PElessons having separate
sessions for children withdisabilities. Is that still inclusion?
10
MartinI think some people would see it as not being
inclusion.They might see it as not being with their other
peerstherefore it is not inclusive. But I think inclusion is
moreabout how you plan and structure the lesson and I think ifyou
want to segregate for want of a better word children with
disabilities in a PE lesson to facilitate skilldevelopment then I
think thats ne whether they aredisabled or non-disabled kids.The
real issue is whether you bring them back togethersocially within
that lesson so they have the opportunity toexchange and interact
with their peers. So yes, if a kidwith a particular disability or a
kid with a coordination orobesity issue is struggling then why not
take that kidaside and spend some time with them on an
individualbasis as you would in a coaching environment.PeterWhat
would you say then to people who would say that itis separation and
the best choice for people withdisability is to be with people who
do not have adisability. 11
MartinMaybe we have become a society then, that says
isinclusion for everyone, not just for some disabledpeople and
therefore weve either always been inclusiveor we have never really
been inclusive because workingwith non-disabled people we segregate
them out as wellby their height, their sex, their age and, in some
cases,their skills so we segregate them out to try to get thebest
out of them thats how I would look at it.PeterSo does it come down
to what is the best choice for anindividual?MartinI think it does
come down to that. Ive always had aconcept in my mind that
inclusion if there is such athing is about facilitating educated
choice. Now, somepeople will say what is educated choice and Id say
itsabout making sure that individuals are able to experiencethe
options available. If we are professionals looking atit, our role
to be inclusive is to facilitate what that 12
individual wants based on their educated choice
andexperience.PeterBeing educated for some people might mean being
ableto adapt and modify activities so that you can includepeople
with disabilities. How far do you think we can goin terms of
adapting and modifying activities?Sometimes theres a ne line
between adapting andmodifying and offering the best choice for
people. Sohow far can we go in adapting and modifying?MartinI think
we need to go as far as we possibly can to modifyand adapt an
activity as long as it still represents theoriginal activity
itself. What we dont want to do is startmodifying an activity that
becomes so far removed fromthe original game or concept that it no
longer has anyrelationship to that activity. You dont want to
modify afootball game by bringing in a rugby ball and changingthe
rules so that you run with the ball instead of kick it.You have to
ask the question why does the individualwant to play football?
Probably because they are 13
stimulated by the media, they are inuenced by thesuperstars of
the world. Weve all got role models in ourlives. We take up sport
because we want to be like ourrole models. If we change that sport
to something that nolonger represents it, then you lose the
motivation to takeup the activity. Its no longer got a relationship
to whatIm seeing on the television.PeterWhen it gets to the point
where it affects the integrity ofthe activity for the whole group,
thats where it actuallybreaks down, isnt it?MartinIt does. I think
youve hit on two very important pointsthere. One is that the
integrity of the activity itself isimportant and also the integrity
of the whole group as ateam sport. I think if its an individual
sport, like athleticsor swimming, it can be a little easier. And it
makesadapting a little more comfortable. I think with teamsports
there are some larger challenges. 14
PeterMartin, I want to ask you about medical and socialmodels.
Do you think a conversation around medical andsocial models is
still relevant in terms of inclusion?MartinNo. In a word. We still
hang our hats on making thedifferential between a medical and
social model. Youvegot the stuff that Ken Black and Pamela
Stephenson havedone around the Inclusion Spectrum and the
originalWinnick model so we have those models of inclusionwhich are
good. I think these models are relevant in asocial application of
disability and sociology.But I think when it comes to physical
activity I think weneed to take the best of both worlds and look at
what Iwould call a functional model, rather than a social ormedical
model. Ive done some work over the last coupleof years in trying to
draft up a functional/sports modelwith a couple of colleagues in
the United States. We havenot yet nished and it seems like a long
slog to get there.This will be a combination of the social
modelsphilosophy and the medical models stance and bringsthem
together for a functional outcome. 15
PeterYes, its interesting whether a social/medical mindset
issignicant these days or whether it is more advantageousto talk
about a functional model in the way that youexplain. Do you think
its just more of a progressive wayto say the same things?MartinI
think so. You know, Ive talked to my coach over manyyears about how
he perceived me when he coached me.His approach was always that he
didnt know anythingabout disability and he didnt know anything
about thesocial and medical model. All he knew about wasswimming
coaching. And what he advocated was that helooked only at what I
could do as opposed to what Icouldnt do. And he worked with me as
an individual onthat basis.The analysis of that is, that this is
him working only on afunctional basis with me or any other swimmer
that wasin the pool. 16
PeterDid you ever come across other coaches though thatthought
I couldnt coach Martin because he has adisability?MartinIn the
early days, yes. I think the issue though there, isthat someone
like myself and other Paralympic athleteswho get to a certain stage
of development and semielitism they are dead easy to work with
because all thehard work has already been done. Its the ones at the
baselevel that are starting out. If you look at some of the
topathletes in the world I think what we need to do is drawan
analogy between who they were when they were 6 or7 years old to who
they became.We all look at some of the top disabled athletes and
thinkthey should be dead easy to coach, but if you had seenthem
when they were only 6 years old then would yourresponse be I dont
know anything about disabilities so Icant coach them! 17
PeterWhats a good response to that? Weve all heard that kindof
thing over the years but how do you respond to thequestion I need
to know about the disability rst?MartinI am not quite sure what the
academic response wouldbe. I think the response might be why cant
you justwork with us initially and well work with you. So thatthose
that are in the know will work with individualswho are a little bit
hesitant. You might say lets work forthe next few weeks and then we
can review it. And if theperson still feels that they cant deal
with it, then we willlook at the reasons why.If we are to remove
the barriers, then it is about almostcounsel the coaches that do
that. And I think there wouldbe some coaches out there that would
be very open tothat kind of support and counseling. I dont want
that tosound like counseling in a patronizing way but itsabout
supporting them and giving them the benet of theknowledge that we
have. Its about mentoring themthrough it. I think youd nd that 75%
of coaches havegot the skills but they just dont know it. 18
PeterThats great Martin. One nal thing I would like to askyou
about is that there seems to be a trend, not sure if itsa world
wide trend but certainly is here in Australia, thatwe are using the
word inclusion in a much more genericway. We apply if to all of us
working across areas indisability, Indigenous or culturally and
linguisticallydiverse populations. But there comes a time when
weneed specic advice and experience in targeted areassuch as
disability. We cant all be giving all advice aboutinclusion all of
the time!MartinNo, we cannot expect everyone to be inclusive all of
thetime. You know Peter, Ive worked in this eld for a longtime I
wont go into how long that is but, I dontthink we can expect
everyone to be totally inclusivebecause we havent all got the
knowledge necessary. Ithink its about letting people say I have a
problem withthis individual how do I resolve it and where do I go
toresolve it? 19
So it is about making sure that those coaches andteachers know
where the avenues are, as to where theycan nd information if and
when they need it. So that if Iwas working with a group of kids
with severe obesitythen I am not sure where I would start. But what
I woulddo is look for the organizations that know about obesityand
talk to them about health related obesity.I can give you a
scenario. I tend to use this when Imtalking to coaches is that
there was a famous runner inthe UK - a 400 meter runner he broke
down in theBarcelona 400 meter nal and his dad walked onto thetrack
and carried him off. He was originally coached in asmall athletics
club in Corby in the UK and when he wasrecognized as having good
talent he moved to BircheldHarriers, which is a much bigger and
more successfulclub in the Birmingham area.But he had an Achilles
tendon problem and when hetransferred to Bircheld Harriers if the
coach atBircheld Harrioers had coached him in the same waythat he
coached his other 400 meter runners then hewould have aggravated
that Achilles tendon much earlierand probably would not have got to
Barcelona. 20
Now the coach had no experience of this runner and hisAchilles
tendon problem previously, but he went andlooked up and researched
about Achilles tendon injuries he researched what he needed to know
so that he couldapply that to his coaching knowledge and coach in
adifferent way.If you relate that to disability and if you have a
problemand an individual is struggling, then why preach aboutvision
impairment when the coach may never havesomeone with a vision
impairment come through thedoor and if they do what level of vision
impairment is itgoing to be?PeterI guess its about adapting to
individual requirements?MartinYes, and how is that any different to
anyone else? Maybethats inclusion! 21
PeterSo what about the future Martin? Where do you
thinkinclusion is going?MartinI think that in the future the
warning is that we becomecomplacent. That we think weve got it
right. A warningsign is also that we are bringing new people into
the areawith no historical background and knowledge of whatsgone on
before. I am not saying that we need to go backand revisit the
past, but sometimes we need to be awareof the past. If we are not
aware of the past we can end upmaking mistakes and go backwards if
we are not careful.PeterNice. I think that would be a good place to
conclude theinterview. Thanks very much Martin, is there
anythingyoud like to add?MartinMaybe just a couple of things. There
is a tendency towork with those with more ability theres less
workhappening with more severe disabilities. We need to becareful
of that. Phil Craven, President of the International 22
Paralympic Committee - hes been on the record assaying
inclusion as a word shouldnt exist because thevery fact that were
having to be inclusive means that weare excluded in the rst place.
Its disabled peoples godgiven right to be there in the rst place so
why should wehave the word inclusion?PeterVery good. It reminds me
very much of the words ofElizabeth Hastings (Disability
DiscriminationCommission) 15 years ago at the launch of the
Willingand Able program here. Her words were almost
identical.MartinYes, I dont disagree with Phil and he has also gone
onrecord recently where he has said he doesnt like theword
disability because the word disables us in the rstplace.PeterWhat
do you think about that? 23
MartinWell, my wifes a social worker and she says thats agreat
philosophy but what are you going to replace itwith? Its great to
think that but what are you going toreplace it with in society? We
need something to befunctional for service providers.PeterYes,
theres a reality around that.Thanks again Martin, I really
appreciate your time andinput. 24
Eli Wolff Eli Wolff is the Director of the Sport and
Development Project at Brown University in Providence, Rhode
Island. Eli sees sport as a social development tool, not simplya
form of entertainment. His work originally focused on disability,
as he researched and advocated for the inclusion of disabled
athletes in collegiate, professional, and Olympic sports. He helped
to draft the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities in 2003, and is still recognized as a leader in
this eld today. Yet Eli has also become interested in larger
questions of sport and social change. At Brown, he co-directs the
Sport and Society Fellowship, which enables student-athletes to
explore the intersectionof sport and human rights. He also directs
the Sport and Development Project, which includes a broader group
of stakeholders in programs and initiatives focusing on sport and
social change. 25
PeterHi Eli, great to meet up with you again and thanks
foragreeing to the interview. What do you understand by theword
inclusion in a disability and sport context?EliI tend to think of
inclusion pretty holistically.Particularly how a person is valued
and respected andinvolved in a particular experience. So a person
with adisability can reach their potential - whether its in
adisability specic setting or an integrated able bodiedmainstream
setting. One thing that I see a lot of, is thatpeople with
disabilities can take part in multiple settingsalong a spectrum or
continuum of opportunity. So it isimportant that we dont box a
person with a disabilityinto any particular situation. But we
should try tomaximize their potential through being open minded
andcreative and really trying to value that person as a
humanbeing.So a lot of it goes back to the human rights
frameworkwhich I tie into this a lot. For me inclusion is about
aholistic approach and how you value the whole person. 26
Sports can sometimes be exclusive - so how do youcreate a
paradigm shift so that it can be more inclusive?PeterYou mentioned
a couple of things there that Id like topick up on. The rst is the
tie in with human rights. Andthe other is the exclusive nature of
sport. So from ahuman rights perspective, what is the dilemma
betweeninclusion as opportunity and choice, and sport
thatnaturally, and unnaturally, excludes people?EliThats a great
question. I think that its important from ahuman level - a human
rights perspective is just realizingthat a person with a disability
has the right to be able touse their body and be athletic. To be
able to reach theirpotential and to see that sport and physical
activity orrecreation is a dimension of our lives, that people
withdisabilities have a right to be able to access in the sameway
as everybody. People should have the chance to tryout and be on the
team. But with sports sometimes youmay not make the team or reach
the standard ofexcellence that is needed. But from a human
rightsperspective you have to understand that you may not 27
have the same equal opportunity that those withoutdisabilities
would have. So if people without disabilitiesare sometimes being
cut from a team for whateverreason, youd like to expect that the
same criteria appliesto people with disabilities.But its more the
idea from a human rights perspectivethat sport is a sphere of life
that people with disabilitiescan partake in and go through all the
experiences andemotions that go with the domain of sport. These
thingsare just as applicable to people with disabilities. The
onething that comes from an exclusion standpoint withregard to
sport and disability is that often the averagesports fan regards
sport and disability as a kind ofoxymoron.People with disability
are often seen as being on thesideline or simply not on the playing
eld. So I thinkthat its important that we have a paradigm shift to
beable to realize, that from an inclusive standpoint, the waythat
we actually see a person with a disability as beingpart of the
sports culture, the more we can createawareness and the more that
the average sports fanbegins to see a person with a disability
involved in sports 28
not just as an outlier or a token - but this is just part ofthe
sports fabric.This should be anywhere in the world and at any level
ofsport, competitive or not. The key is that we begin to justsee
disability in a different way within sports. This iscontrary to
some of the more archaic views of whatdisability means that is
reected in some of the languagethat is used such as that gimpy
athlete or that crippledathlete. The language that is used and the
way thatpeople with disabilities are sometimes portrayed,
meansthere is still a lot of stigma there.This is why it is
fascinating from an academic and realperspective. How do we adjust
these problems? How dowe work toward creating a more inclusive
society? Ithink its getting better but we have to keep working at
itby being diligent and vocal.PeterIll come to the stigma issue in
a second but going backto the human rights question. There is a
gray areabetween what is a sport choice and a human rightschoice.
Its that difference to when people make a 29
decision on choice based on the rules of sport as opposedto a
decision based on human rights. Have you seenexamples of problems
arising from a sport choice to ahuman rights choice?EliThats a
really good question and I think that often it ison a case by case
basis. You can sometimes see thesituation whereby its unclear if
athletes rights have beenviolated and he has been discriminated
against, orwhether or not he simply didnt make the team. So its
isoften taken on a case by case basis and you have to lookat the
situation. There are many cases where an athletehas not necessarily
been discriminated against as it mightjust be a fair play
situation. But there may not havebeen reasonable accommodation for
the athlete. But thereare also many instances where a person with a
disabilitycould be involved in a much more comprehensive waybut the
organization is not make those accommodationsand the kids with
disabilities are just sitting on thesidelines. That still happens
all over the world.So I think there are some clear distinctions
between whatare rights violations and what is more to do with
things 30
like selection criteria. Because of the nature of sport asyou
go through the continuum of recreation to leisure totness and all
the way to more competitive sport, thereare these lines and
questions such as can this be moreinclusive and participatory? You
get those all along. It isparticularly so at the more participation
end where thehuman rights perspective comes in. I think where you
getinto the higher levels of competition when you havethings such
as selection criteria, you can still see humanrights violations,
but there are different circumstancesand situations here.PeterYou
mentioned stigma too. Id just like to get yourthoughts on that.
Stigma is can be attributed to whyexclusion happens. Where do you
think that stigmacomes from? Are we ever going to combat
stigmathrough sport?EliBeing involved with the United Nations and
disabilityrights and focusing these past 10 years on
raisingawareness of disability in general society I think thework
on addressing the fear factor is signicant. 31
Disability generally in our society brings up a lot ofemotions
in people, simply because it is different,especially for physical
disability but also for intellectualdisability. Because it is
different people are not ascomfortable. They dont have the
experience or theknowledge base to fall back on. People are not
exposedto disability.People react in very different ways. It could
be they arejust shy, or angry, or mean - so you nd a lot of
differentways that people respond. One of the things that I
havefound by working in the Olympics and professionalsports is that
often it is just a lack of information. I thinkin the last few
years there has been more curiosity andpeople taking an interest in
sport and disability - seeing itas an exciting and emerging new
area. So I feel that thereis a lot of hope and potential now for
transforming theculture. The way that I have approached it with
mycolleagues has been to look at it historically, and to alsolook
at racial inclusion and gender inclusion and makingthose
comparisons.If you look historically around race, gender and
disabilityand in particular around race and apartheid, and you look
32
to see where we are now in terms of race relations orother
forms of discrimination and stigma, you do seeprogress. You do see
it evolving and I think in regard todisability and stigma, I feel
it is on that trajectory so thatin 20 years from now its going to
be very different. Weare going to be that much more of an inclusive
society,especially because of those of us that are pushing
theenvelope and asking good questions and taking more ofan
educational approach.There may well be things that are going to
happen, suchas legal cases, that are going to push even more for
socialchange. Therell also be more athletes that are inpositions of
power that are going to be able to make keydecisions. So there are
all these factors that will allow forthings to change over
time.Some days I think this is never going to change, but otherdays
Im feeling very hopeful. Im sure we all have thosekind of days. But
stigmas can be very embedded and onething that I talk about a lot
is both external and internalstigma. Internal stigma is where
people with disabilitystigmatize themselves. This is part of our
own 33
empowerment process. This will help us understandwhat does
inclusion mean.So if you look at other social movements in sports,
youcan learn a lot and see ways in which we can progress
thedisability movement.PeterI like the comparison with other
movements and I agreethere is a lot we can learn there. You mention
that lackof knowledge is one thing that restricts inclusion.
Whatother things do you think impact on how inclusive wecan be?EliI
think the athlete interactions with their allies, peers andpeople
without disabilities contribute a lot. We needpeople with
disabilities and people without disabilitiesspeaking up. One of the
things that I feel strongly aboutis the media. The more
documentaries, movies,commercials and even viral videos out there
promotingthe disability movement through sports, the faster
thingswill progress. Also, with policy its not enough to have
itsitting on the shelf. All these things help and add up. But
34
in 2012 theres not a good disability sports website, likean
ESPN. They dont even have a disability section or aconstant thread
of stories that show case disability sports.I know the BBC has
picked up some that is helping togrow disability sports in
different markets, but in termsof really embracing disability sport
there is a way to go.Even the language and symbols that are being
used inthese contexts are not helping at times. Appropriatelanguage
and symbols should be used by governingbodies, such as FIFA and
IAAF. That is happening nowbut there does need to be more
involvement from themainstream sports movements. For example, how
do theOlympics and Paralympics interact? I know for Londonthey are
doing a lot. But we must keep pushing.I have been fairly outspoken
about the philosophy ofOlympism, as this philosophy is a very
holisticphilosophy that embraces everybody, and people
withdisabilities are part of the Olympic movement. In the pastthe
Paralympics have been identied as a separatemovement and it is only
recently that the Paralympicshas been described as being part of
the Olympicmovement. I think this is a really good thing from a
35
humanitarian standpoint. Its important that we realizethat this
is all part of one movement. Even if there areactual different
events, its still together as part of onemovement.So its important
that we create these systems that are notparallel but integrated.
Like I said, even if they areseparate events, its the way we
communicate aboutthem, the way we talk about them and package
thesethings. We do need to consider what it means for peoplewith
disabilities to be part of the same systems, ratherthan separate
systems.PeterI think youve hit on one of the real grey areas
here.While sport that is only for people with disability - suchas
the Paralympics, is all part of inclusion, it is notoften packaged
that way. They are packaged asseparate events, somehow different to
everything else.But they are no different to women only events, or
eventsfor people of a certain weight category. But we are notvery
smart sometimes in how we package these events. 36
EliYes, and Ive learnt off you over the years, as I thinkthere
has been a select number of us that have beentrying to communicate
this message and raise theawareness for what this means - trying to
simplify that.There are folks that talk about the identity of
peoplewith disability and the uniqueness of that - but you canalso
say the same thing about women or anybody thatcomes with a unique
identity. So its about how do youcreate events that package events
together rather thanseparate them in this way, such as the
CommonwealthGames. The more that we can have those conversationsand
the more that we can educate about that, the better.This semester I
am teaching a course on Olympism, andone of the weeks is about the
Paralympics and disability.Every time I get involved in a
discussion with peoplewho know nothing about the Paralympics, they
often talkabout why there isnt a way they can be packagedtogether.
It doesnt seem to make sense to them that theyare separate. And
thats great to hear. That gives me hopefor the future for people
that are in sports organizationsand positions of inuence, that they
will have thatawareness, and it will make them think about how they
37
can create events that are more inclusive. Its clearlygoing to
take more time, but there are things we can do inthe short term to
keep pushing.One other thing Id like to mention. Ive been working
onthis project the last few weeks. It seems so obvious but Ithink
it could have a huge impact. At the moment thereare no video games
on Paralympic sports or disabledsports. It seems to me that this
could be a huge - for oneof the sport game companies to make a
wheelchair rugbyor wheelchair basketball game. To me, that level
ofintegration could go a long way. Think about all thepeople that
play video games, especially kids that get intosports games, and to
have that as an option.PeterI totally agree. At one stage a few
years ago we looked atdeveloping Sports Ability - an inclusive
games programhere in Australia and elsewhere in the world - to
becomea Sports AbiliWi. A Wi game around sports such asBoccia and
Table Cricket would suit the Wi environmentreally well. If you can
play tennis and golf that way thenyou can certainly play other
sports, such as boccia, thatway too. 38
EliIs it in production?PeterNo, its not. It never got further
than a thought bubble.But its a great concept.One more questions if
you dont mind Eli - somethingyou have touched on a couple of times
- the future!Youve been around for a while now. Where do you
thinkwe will be in ten years from now in terms of inclusion?EliFor
me, I always feel that I am learning. Its been anintensive last ten
years or so. You know, I was at the IPCVISTA meeting and there were
several other sportsfederations there. They were telling me that
they werereally trying to push integration, trying to get
moredisabled sports involved with their sports. They said thatthey
were getting some level of support from theParalympics but they
thought that they could receiveeven more, so that it became a
priority area for them. 39
I also feel that right from the relationship between
theOlympics and Paralympics - right through to grass
rootspartnerships at the school and club level - were going tosee
more and more best practices, more sports that arereally integrated
and more events that are integrated. Iwould hope that there is more
information readilyavailable, that you could go to an ESPN or any
of themain sport news channels and you could go to a tab
fordisabled sports. It will become more and more of anindustry and
I think that will be an exciting thing.I also think that it will
become more business orientated,more complicated and more of a
complete industry.From a teaching standpoint, there are only a few
sportsmanagement programs that teach about disabled sportsand
adapted physical activity. Hopefully in ten yearsfrom now they all
will. They will just be one of thecourses you can take.Hopefully,
in ten years from now we will be muchfurther along. But there some
things we have all beenworking on for the last ten years and they
are still thesame! But I do feel hopeful because of the
enthusiasmthat I see from young people. And the denition of 40
inclusion is changing. From a human rights standpoint itwas
more about access issues and getting jobs, but nowthere is a
greater level of awareness. The basic things arethere a little bit
more and its shifting to things like youthadvocacy and realizing
more that you can be moreinnovative about programs and that you can
change theway that clubs are run. Even in schools theres
anawareness that if a kid does turn up that they can have agood
experience.Still, I realize there are many parts in the world
wherethat is not the case, and there is still a lot of work
thatneeds to be done in those parts of the world. Disability ismore
on the agenda of developing agencies now,especially since the UN
Convention process has been inplace. Disability is a part of all
that now, its not off theradar!But there has to be a group of us
that keeps at it.PeterI agree entirely. While some things have
changeddramatically, others have remained the same. Overall,
itscome a long way in the last few years and it will be 41
exciting to see what happens in the next ten years. Imight
conclude it there as youve given us a lot of richmaterial. So thank
you very much. I really appreciateyour time and input. 42
Steffi de Jong Stef is co-founder and Impact Director of
Playable. She is passionate about using the power of sport for
social change. Stef co- founded PlayAble while still at university.
After receiving her Master degree in Adapted Physical Activities in
Leuven, Oslo and Stellenbosch and a Master degree in Implementation
and Evaluation of Sport Projects at the Paris 10 University, she
was committed to continue impacting lives of people with
disabilities. 43
As her main motivation, Stef refers to theenormous changes she
has seen in thechildren who participate in PlayAble. "Achild that
used to be neglected by thecommunity can develop into someone with
adisABILITY who is condent and aware ofhis/her rights justin a few
weeks of sportparticipation. Isnt that amazing?!"In her free time,
Stef loves to be active,from playing soccer and squash to
mountainbiking and skiing. When she is not workingor playing sport,
youll nd her enjoying lifewith family and friends. 44
PeterHi Stef - in your experience, what do you understandabout
inclusion of people with disability in sport andphysical
activity?SteffiWhat I understand about inclusion and what we try
toteach in PlayAble to our coaches and instructors, is
thatinclusion is all about providing a choice to people
withdifferent abilities to play together in the way that theywant.
For us its not necessarily one type of activity. Itsreally about
enabling trainers and coaches to actuallyadapt existing games in
such a way that everyone thatcomes out onto the eld can play
together.Whether its kids without disabilities or kids
withdifferent disabilities, it doesnt matter, kids with
alldifferent abilities, they actually get a chance to playtogether.
To play together at the highest level of theirperformance, so that
each and every one of them is stillchallenged in a sense that they
can reach their highestlevel. 45
PeterYouve worked in some challenging environments. Whatdo you
think are the major challenges to inclusion?SteffiI think that one
of the biggest challenges that we arefacing in the African
countries that we are working withis the tendency to really stick
to rules. For example, ifyou are going to do Volleyball you must
stick to all therules, so if a person cannot set then they cant
join, andthats it! Thats the mind-set that lots of people have.That
for us is the biggest challenge. We need a change inmind-set. To
try to enable people to be creative andletting them try with
different rules and differentequipment and using different
instructions. That takes awhile and is one of the biggest
challenges that we have.The second one is the attitudes. Some of
the initialattitudes can be really negative. You know as you
havebeen to different countries. Theres an attitude that peoplewith
disabilities just cant play sports because they are ina wheelchair,
for example. Their disability is equated totheir inability in a
sense. That is a challenge for inclusionat the rst point, because
its not only other people that 46
believe the kids with disabilities dont have ability, itsthe
kids themselves.If you have been locked up in your house for years
andyou have never had the opportunity to play, then youdont have
the condence in your own abilities. So whatwe see in the beginning,
very often, is that fully inclusiveactivities can have a very
negative effect, because kidswith disabilities can get very
insecure playing with theirable bodied peers.The other kids are
like hey, they cant play with us. SoI think that is a big
challenge. We try to tackle it by doingit step by step. Those are
the two biggest challenges thatwe face.PeterWe will certainly
explore attitudes a bit more. But I wasinterested in the rules. Do
you think rules are one of themost restrictive things about sport,
particularly for peoplewho are more used to the rules that govern
sport. 47
SteffiI think for those that do physical education training
theyare so focused on the rules. For example, their exams
arefocused on the rules of the games. So I think for them itis even
more of a bigger challenge to change their mind-set as opposed to
others who are not so familiar with thegames. They are open to
adapting at rst because theysimply dont know the rules in the rst
place. Of coursethere are exceptions because there are teachers who
aretrained but that get it very fast and they are reallycreative.
But there are also some that really havedifculties in sticking to
the rules.PeterNow, Im really interested to know. You have worked
inAfrica and in Europe. Do you see any differencesbetween how
creative people are in these countries?SteffiFrom my experience the
biggest difference in Europe andAfrica is perhaps the educational
system. People inEurope are forced much more to question and
thinkcreatively about different solutions, whereas in Africa,
atleast in the areas that we have worked, the teacher is 48
there to tell the rules and that is what you do. That is myown
interpretation, but it is what I think is the biggestcause of this
difference. They are not really taught how toquestion and think
creatively. Of course, thats ageneralization and doesnt count for
everyone.PeterYes, I understand the generalization and see what
youmean. Can I ask you about attitudes. Are theredifferences youve
seen into attitudes towards inclusionand how are these linked to
culture?SteffiYes, denitely. I think this is why going to Africa
wassuch an eye opener for me. In many African countriesthere are
still many cultural beliefs around disability.Disability as a curse
and the punishment of god. Itssomething very negative and lots of
parents feel ashamedof their kids. We work with a lot of kids who
are inorphanages, but they are not orphans. Its just that
theirparents wont have anything to do with them.There are also kids
that have been locked in their housefor many years and even
neighbors dont know they 49
exist. It is because it is seen as some kind of failure ofthe
family. I think that if you are more in the urban areasits changing
and getting better, but in the rural areasthere is still a lot of
stigma attached to disability.PeterThats very interesting. Do you
think that sport can helpchange that?SteffiOh yes - otherwise I
could denitely stop working forPlayAble right now! This is the
whole reason we startedPlayAble and why we continue working because
wereally believe in the power of sport to changing thoseattitudes.
To give you some examples, in Kenya weworked in a community, in one
of the slum areas ofNairobi, where we had about 20 kids just
staying at homeand we got them playing activities every week
incommunity elds. In the beginning, the communitymembers didnt
quite know what was going on, but overthe weeks we really saw that
their attitudes changed. Wesaw people coming out to watch and being
surprised. Atone point we decided to invite the local school,
theirteachers and the local leader. When they saw the 50
activities they were able to see that those kids really dohave
abilities. So they thought they should get a chanceto go to school.
The activities convinced people thatthose kids do have abilities
and they can do lots of thingsif you just give them a chance. In
the end they opened upa whole new classroom for those 20 kids so
that they arenow going to school.Thats just one example but its
typical of what we havebeen experiencing over the last few years in
all the areaswe have worked in. It really is changing attitudes,
andthe impact reaches much further than on a personal level.Its
also on a societal level that things are changing.PeterThats a
great example of the power of sport. What is thereaction of
children without disabilities to what you do?SteffiAt the beginning
they have big eyes and are staring abit! They are thinking whats
going on here and who arethose kids? There might be a bit of
giggling and nottaking it all that serious, but then, for example,
in Ugandawe started some parallel activities rst to help the kids
51
get to know each other rst. After some weeks we reallysaw that,
step by step, they started to talk to each otherand started to kick
some balls with each other. Now weare in the position that some of
the kids are in completelyinclusive teams. It takes time, but you
really do see thatfriendships are being made between the
kids.PeterNow, Im assuming that you use local equipment too, asits
important to just use what people are used to. Do theymanage to
adapt and modify ways of doing things withdifferent kinds of
equipment too?SteffiYes, we do use as much as possible local
equipment. Forexample, we have introduced in Uganda boccia.
Therewere no boccia balls available so we just used whateverwe
could as balls, even stones. I think even the coachesget more and
more creative too, as we have to use what isavailable.PeterOne of
the discussions weve had with the other peopleon this project is
the idea that inclusion is sometimes 52
perceived only as activities that are for people with
andwithout disabilities together. And inclusion does notmean
disability specic type activities. Is that perceptionsomething you
have seen in African countries?SteffiIn the countries that we work
those terms are not known.We are trying to teach different ways of
inclusion. But,basically I think thats more of a personal thing. I
dontreally care which name we give it. I think inclusion isnot
necessarily adapting a game for kids withoutdisabilities, so that
kids with disabilities can be included.For me it can be the
opposite way too. A game for kidswith disabilities that can include
kids without disabilities.To me, its not just about adapting
activities to includekids with disabilities. Its more about
creating anopportunity for all kids to play together, whether its
so-called reverse integration, when kids withoutdisabilities play
boccia, for example.I understand that there is a difference and I
understandthat some people might argue that real inclusion ishaving
kids with disabilities all playing together inmainstream soccer,
for example. You know, I think it is 53
only really in English speaking countries where there isthis
difference between inclusion and integration. Forme, its more
important that there is a choice and thatthey can play whatever
they want at the level that theylike.PeterSo you are saying that
inclusion is really only aboutopportunity and choice.SteffiYes, I
think for me that is the most important. We couldalso see inclusion
as being in sport, whether that isbeing included in Paralympic
sports, or being included inunied sports. But for me, the important
thing is thatthere is a choice. If the kids dont feel
comfortableplaying soccer together, then there is still an option
toplay in wheelchair basketball, and that is the case forboth kids
with and without disabilities. I dont have adisability, but I play
wheelchair basketball and I felt Iwas included in that team. Im not
sure I am makingmyself clear, but to me the differences in phrases
andwords dont really matter. Its more the nal outcomethat counts
for me. 54
PeterYes, its the global language isnt it! Everyoneunderstands
when an opportunity is created. Thatsfantastic Stef. To conclude,
Id just like to explore alittle more the kinds of attitudes, fears
and approachesyou have come across, because it is a bit different
andyouve seen rst hand the power that sport can have onthose
communities. How fast does this transformationprocess happen and
when do you start seeing results?SteffiI think that depends a lot
on the background. Forexample, in rural areas the attitudes are
still a bit morenegative, so it takes longer there than in the
cities.Obviously, it varies from person to person but Ive
reallybeen surprised by how short a time it takes. Even duringour
course for coaches of 4 to 5 days, theres coaches thathave never
worked with kids with disabilities and theycome in and say things
like oh god, why did we choseyou and why are you in this course?
But over the fourdays when they get this experience in working with
thosekids, you really can get some great changes. 55
They really realize that their attitudes were wrong. Foradults,
maybe it goes faster than for kids. We do seecoaches after the
course immediately have great attitudesand they really want to try
their level best to helpeveryone that comes their way. For the
kids, in Uganda itwas pretty fast too. If you only have a few kids,
it onlytakes a few, to go and talk to the kids with
disabilities.Then the others will follow. We do try to pick a few
rolemodels, both for kids with and without disabilities, soyou can
connect them up better. This promotes a lot ofinteraction.A funny
part is also the parents. In the beginning they arealso skeptical.
Having their kid playing with someonewith a disability. But at the
end of the season you reallyget their reactions. They are
completely changed and theyrealize that these kids also play
soccer. They are prettyamazed initially. One of the kids in Uganda
was topscorer, he was born without legs, so he was playingsoccer
with his hands, among kids that were playing withtheir feet. It was
amazing and he is such a powerful rolemodel for all those parents.
He became the rock-star ofhis community. 56
Weve already talked about the power of sport. It is waymore
powerful than anything we can talk about. Justseeing those kids in
action really helped.PeterYes, thats a great place to stop the
interview I think.Youve done a fantastic job so its good to nish on
sucha positive note.SteffiThanks Peter, I really enjoyed
it.PeterThanks Stef, and well speak
soon._______________________________________Take a look at PlayAble
by visiting their site at:http://www.play-able.org/ 57
Hamish Macdonald Hamish Macdonald is a passionate advocate,
speaker, administrator, educationalist and leader in the eld of
sport for people with disability. Now in the veteran athlete
category, he has represented Australia in a number of Paralympic
Games and World Championships in athletics. Hamish currently works
for the Australian Sports Commission in an Assistant Director role,
combining that with his many athletic commitments. He is a skilled
educator and has been instrumental in designing and delivering
education programs that have gone all over the world. He has
organized and delivered on many disability education workshops
across Australia and overseas, including Asia, the South Pacic, the
Caribbean and Africa. 58
Hamish manages to combine an in-depth knowledge ofhigh
performance sport with an acute understanding ofthe issues facing
community participation, all with a keensense of humor and
enthusiasm. 59
PeterWhat do you understand by inclusion in sport andphysical
activity for people with disability?HamishI think it is all the
things we know. Providingopportunities for people to have the
choice to participatein parts of the community that they want to
participate in.Its about reducing the barriers, whether these
areperceived barriers or real barriers.The work of inclusion, is
identifying what the barriers areand then doing the work
collaboratively, so that everyonehas a sense of ownership about
reducing those barriers.PeterCan you give us an example of what a
barrier might be?HamishSome of the biggest barriers are the
attitudinal barriers.On both sides of the fence. The attitudes of
the persontrying to access sport, these can be huge
barriers.Whether they are barriers of the people themselves, or
60
the people that facilitate the opportunity, such as theirfamily
members or care providers.Then there are the attitudes of the
community moregenerally, they can be huge barriers too.PeterIf you
want to break down these barriers, how do youinuence peoples
attitudes?HamishImmersion. I think people can only understand
somethingby being immersed in it. The immersion really has tohappen
in a non-deliberate way so that it is just part oflife. People cant
be expected to understand somethingthey have never experienced. Any
type of immersion isvaluable. The opportunity to explore what that
immersionexperience was about, in a discussion format so thatpeople
can discuss what their experience was like, thishelps people shape
how they think. 61
PeterDo you think that this immersion, this experience
andexposure to disability for the rst time, can be negativeand
positive?HamishYes, if it is done in a controlled way, then it has
to bedone very carefully and in a non-deliberate way, oralmost
incidental way. When weve seen this process, forexample, helping
people experience disability by usingwheelchairs, then this can
have a negative impact onlonger term attitudes. But if you are able
to immersesomeone in the experience of disability in a
non-deliberate way, then you can positively inuenceattitudes.Its
almost like people are doing it, are experiencing it,without
calling it a particular thing, and then it becomespart of their
everyday behavior.PeterSo, its trying to inuence everyday behavior?
62
HamishYes, absolutely, its inuencing everyday behavior in
anon-labeled and non-deliberate way. The difculty here,as
educators, is that you have to actually be quitedeliberate in how
you do that.PeterAs educators then, are there ways of speeding
thatprocess up?HamishI think there are. I think effective inclusion
is likelearning a language. For example, if you are taughtJapanese
all your life, but never have the opportunity touse it, then it is
of limited value. So, the typical educationprocess for learning a
language is that you aredeliberately exposed to it as part of a
school curriculum.Then you have to make a choice as an adult to
carry thaton or not, 99% of people dont, so their understanding
ofthe language is limited to what they can remember from along time
ago.So, the way people get exposed to inclusion is important,as is
the way people go about nding practical solutions. 63
Its the opportunities that people have to put it intopractice
that is important. Unless they have an immediateand ongoing
opportunity to put it into practice then it canbe lost. So, as
educators, whatever behavioral change youare trying to make should
focus on deliberate andongoing exposure to that situation.Thats a
tough thing to try to do, to put people in front ofpeople with
disabilities on an ongoing basis.PeterHow do you develop a sense of
ownership aroundinclusion then?HamishTo me it has to be success.
You have to build youroutcome to be a success. If the overall
outcome of beinginclusive is success, this is a global outcome
rather thanan individual outcome that says "if we behave this
waythen Peter is going to be included more effectively". If itis a
global outcome then people will start to own it.The challenge here
is that if everyone owns it then it isnobodys responsibility. There
has to be a balance 64
between collective ownership and individualresponsibility here.
The overall outcome is the mostimportant, but so is individual
responsibility.PeterSo the overall outcome, inclusion, becomes just
everydaypractice. Its the way people do things.HamishYes, its a
culture. It isnt about attending a one offeducation session and
ticking a box and feeling that youhave done your bit. Its about
what we want to feel likewhen we come to work everyday, and what do
we wantto feel like we are achieving by living this culture. So
insome ways, it has to be an internal choice. Not somethingthat we
can tick off and say we have done. So this is agrey space to work
in, but in many ways there are moretangible outcomes in the long
term.The effect will be that people have better experiences andmake
choices to come back and revisit that activity ororganization. The
culture will attract you rather than youcoming back for your own
personal experience. 65
PeterHow far are we away from achieving that?HamishOh, we are
miles from that happening! But there aresome shining examples of
when that approach is taken itcan work. Its difcult to describe,
but on the one handyou know exactly what you want to do, and on the
otheryou do not want to portray thats what you are doing.You, kind
of, dont want to label it an inclusive activity.PeterSo again, if
we are teaching about inclusion, we need tobe conscious of the
broader goals of doing things thisway?HamishIt is a kind of covert
operation. For every piece of workthats labeled an inclusive
activity, then theres always100 other bits of work that go on below
it. People need tofeel attached to what you are doing, if they are
not, theyare not going to be attracted to it. 66
Whatever service or activity you are offering, if peoplecannot
see themselves already there, then they areunlikely to come back
through the door.PeterIts like an incidental effect of inclusion.
To put in placethings that cause the incidental effect of
inclusion.HamishBecause it is covert. Which is an effective way to
do it.Its a real skill to teach this.PeterWhat do you think then,
are the major challenges ofembedding that kind of approach into the
practices of aregular sports coach, who has never worked with
aperson with a disability before?HamishThe challenges are that you
are working with someonewith little experience and who is
structured around therules of sport. There is also too much busy
work thathappens within a local sporting environment. Someonehas to
run the kitchen or look after rst aid. So the longer 67
term softer stuff has to be embedded into everyonesbusiness.
And someone needs to take responsibility forthis, for embedding
inclusive practice into everyonesbusiness.Its messy, but for it to
be everyones business thensomeone has to make it everyones
business. Someonehas to be clever enough to do this so that it
doesnt looklike an obligation and its not a course that you begin
andcomplete and understand, and therefore dont need to doanymore.
So theres a danger with a deliberate andspecic education process,
that its easy to say "yes, Ivedone that, therefore I am inclusive".
So in order for it tobe ongoing, it has to be in the subconscious.
So for it tobe there, there must be someone that is outside the
busyspace dedicated to putting it into the subconscious.Those
people are rare, and those people that are capableof doing it well
are often not available at a local level.PeterIts a funny irony,
you want to teach about inclusion butyou dont want to at the same
time! 68
HamishYes. And there is a place for teaching about
inclusionbecause you need an initial level of exposure. You needthe
people waving the big ag saying this is what youneed to learn. But
the challenge, after that initialexposure, is to embed it. And the
only way to do that isfor people to live it when they go back to
where theyoperate. So it needs someone clever enough to
embedinclusion into the day-to-day operations of
anorganization.PeterExcellent. I think we will leave it there
Hamish. I reallyappreciate your time and thoughts here. Thanks
verymuch.HamishNot a problem - thanks. 69
Thanks to our contributors to What Is Inclusion?If you have
read this book and you are not a member of The Inclusion Club, then
wethink you have enough interest to join. Its free and takes a
couple of minutes. You can sign up here:
http://theinclusionclub.com 70