The need- and demand- to make sport accessible will see the door to solutions opening in September.
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson will be keynote speaker at the 2012 AGM and Conference of the Access Association, the theme of which will be ‘the legacy of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Future of Sports in Great Britain’. The half-day Conference, sponsored by Total Hygiene and held in New Brighton, Wirral on September 25, will feature high level speakers from UK sport and sport management, and highlight the means by which to deliver tangible inclusive solutions.
Mike Elkerton, Conference organizer and chair of the Access Association North West region, elaborates, “A fifth of the British adult population has a disability, a figure set to increase 10% by 2023. Disabled people’s spending power is estimated at £80billion, yet statistics reveal 75% of business- including sport venues- had one or more entry problems for disabled people. The new Equality Act, 2010 which replaced the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, requires by law that reasonable change is made where a customer or potential customer with disabilities would otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage. There are therefore sound legal and financial reasons why anyone involved in building and operating leisure venues should learn how to adapt to accommodate people with disabilities.”
Baroness Grey-Thompson adds, “I really hope a lasting legacy of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be to raise awareness of the need to make sport accessible for everyone. Sport has the power to change lives and affect social change, let’s make sure that disabled people can play a big part in that change.”
Delegate attendance at the Conference will cost £50, and count towards CPD credits; the main Conference will be complimented by an exhibition dedicated to the tools by which to improve accessibility to sport and sport venues.
