Disability Sport can often be difficult to access because of the equipment required, for example, specialised wheelchairs for specific sports, which could be barrier a preventing people with disabilities from low-income backgrounds from having the opportunity to participate in many adapted sports. Thus, the socio-economic, physical and attitudinal barriers, and race inequalities of wider society are not suprisingly reflected in Paralympics GB.
The Youth Charter has found that the most racially inclusive Paralympics GB sport was Table Tennis which had 5 (13.9%) BAME Athletes out of 31 between Sydney 2000 and Tokyo 2020, which was 1% above the UK’s BAME population of 12.9%. However, all the other Paralympics GB sports were below 12.9% BAME Athletes in their squads for Sydney 2000 and Tokyo 2020. The Paralympics GB sport with the most athletes between Sydney 2000 and Tokyo 2020 was Swimming, with 128.5 Athletes but 0 BAME Athletes (NB: 0.5 = athlete shared with another sport).
The Youth Charter has categorised the potential of Paralympic sports for social impact, please see table 1 and 2. Swimming has been categorised a sport that has a Very High Potential for Social Impact, it is relatively easy to access at local leisure centres but is also a life skill that can save lives and promote an active lifestyle. For many people with disabilities, it can also be a liberating experience to swim through buoyancy. Thus, the fact that Swimming had no BAME Athletes out of 128.5, suggests a very disturbing inequality in access to swimming by BAME people with disabilities. This inequality was also reflected in the Team GB Aquatics (diving, swimming, etc) squads, which had only 2 BAME Athletes out of 228 for Sydney 2000 to Tokyo 2020.
The Youth Charter calls on UK Sport, along with Sport England, Sport Wales, Sport Scotland and Sport Northern Ireland, to ensure public investment in sport includes Potential for Social Impact as a key criteria for funding.
“I think sometimes the Paralympics is under too much pressure to be responsible for changing behaviour. We should just enjoy it for the wonderful spectacle that it’s been. Our research tells us disabled people are more likely to be inspired and influenced by a member of their family, by a neighbour or by a GP who has thought through the process of actively advocating sports and activity. They’re the real things that actually resonate with a significant number of disabled people who are not traditionally active and don’t see themselves as being a Paralympian.”
Barry Horne, Chief Executive, Activity Alliance
