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Keeping it Going
People with a Disability

Right across Victoria, sports, sporting organisations, organisations and government bodies are implementing strategies to increase the involvement of people with disability in sport as participants, leaders, managers and as professional athletes.

Your sport can play a big part in supporting this movement at the grassroots level, and then by maintaining and building on early successes to get even more people with disability involved.

 

Seeking feedback from your local community, including people with a disability is a very useful exercise and one which your organisation should undertake regularly. Continue to seek feedback in regard to any programs/participation opportunities that your sporting organisations offer, to continue to make sure what you offer is a good quality inclusive activity.

The Office for Disability has a useful resource about creating accessible surveys. Click here (insert ‘Accessible Surveys’ pdf) to download it. You can also click here (insert ‘communication with people with disability’ pdf) to download their resource about communicating with people with disability.

You could use a free resource like Survey Monkey to help design and distribute a survey. The Club Help website offers three surveys that you can adapt to construct your survey:

Surveys can help you find out more about who lives in your local community, their general interests and sport participation levels. Use this information to identify relevant activities and opportunities for your sport to engage the community and make improvements to what you are already doing.

While there are many things your organisation can do on your own, collaborating with strategic partners (other than existing partners and sponsors) can help you gain access to more resources, skills and connections. These strategic partnerships will help you to grow your existing activities, skill sets and capabilities and identify what else you can do to keep the momentum going.

Here are some examples of the benefits of strategic partnerships:

  • A strategic partnership with key decision makers such as local councilors or Members of Parliament may assist in contributing future resources or support to improve how your facility meets the needs of people with disability.
  • Connecting with a local law firm may provide support to help review and revise your policies at no cost (refer to Policies and Practice section).
  • Your increased focus on all abilities could open doors to new sponsorship or partnership opportunities, and there may be a range of local businesses that would be interested in supporting your organisation beyond your existing sponsor base.

You might want to search for organisations that offer Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, pro-bono work or corporate workplace giving programs designed to benefit community organisations.

Resources and grants

Sometimes a little extra money will help you to accelerate the activities that support the participation of people with disability. Many local, state and federal government organisations also have a focus on supporting the participation of people with disability and offer grants to sporting organisations to assist at grassroots level. These grants may focus on participation, facilities, access, education or leadership. To ensure you are in the loop on these opportunities, you are encouraged to sign up to newsletters from Sport and Recreation Victoria, VicHealth, State Sporting Associations, Vicsport or your local council.

Vicsport provide a regularly updated list of current grant opportunities here.

VicHealth provides funding through the Active Club Grants Program and the Innovation Challenge: Sport.

Sport and Recreation Victoria often offer a range of grants for the Victorian sport sector.

The NDIS can provide funding to community organisations through the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building Grants.

Vicsport recorded a podcast with Maryanne Diamond, Head of Engagement for the NDIS. Maryanne talks about what the NDIS is, what it will fund, and how sport organisations can capitalise on the opportunities provided by the program. Listen to the podcast on the link below:

Sharing your success stories with other sport organisations can be a great way to demonstrate the work that you have been doing to increase engagement of people with disability. These stories can generate interest and excitement around your sporting organisation. They can also get more community members interested in the steps your club has taken, expose your club to more potential participants or volunteers, and help build strategic partnerships and attract new sponsors.

These stories can include testimonials, images or videos filmed on a phone, a page on your website or quotes that can be shared on social media. Remember, a picture tells a thousand words!

It is important to recognise and celebrate the people within your sport who have led the way on boosting participation by people with disability. This can include recognition within your organisation, or entering awards offered by other sport sector organisations or local council. Here’s some ideas:

For more information visit: