Learning Disability, Sport & Legacy Report Launch

Thank you to our friends at Special Olympics GB for providing this post. The report was taking in full from www.specialolympicsgb.org.uk

The first-ever comprehensive study of the impact of the Special Olympics GB’s National Summer Games has concluded that sport not only provides enormous social and health benefits for people with learning disabilities, but it can also act as a pathway to a greater sense of citizenship and inclusivity.

The Learning Disability, Sport and Legacy report was launched at the House of Commons on 26 October at an event hosted by Leicester West
MP Liz Kendall. It was the result of a two-year research project led jointly by Professor Richard Holt and Dr Neil Carter from De Montfort’s University’s International Centre for Sports History and Culture, and John Williams from the University of Leicester’s Department of Sociology.

In-depth interviewing of athletes with learning disabilities, families and officials was carried out by project research fellow Dr Susan Barton, author of the first history of Special Olympics GB as part of the project.

The ground breaking research behind the report showed the benefits of Special Olympics GB’s National Summer Games to athletes with learning disabilities and their carers, as well as the wider society, and looked at the impact and legacy of the Special Olympics GB National Summer Games Leicester 2009 (SOL 2009) on the athletes, the city and the public.

This games was the country’s largest multi-sports event in 2009 with 2,500 athletes, 1200 coaches, 6,000 family members and carers and 1,000 volunteers.
Guests at the launch event – including Minister for Sport & Olympics Hugh Robertson, Sport England’s London 2012 Sport Participation and Legacy Manager Cathy Hughes, and Special Olympics GB President Lawrie McMenemy MBE – also heard how, despite the costs to the local authority of hosting the event, Special Olympics GB’s 2009 National Summer Games in Leicester boosted the city’s economy with an estimated £2.8 million of additional spending.

The report however, calls for radical new thinking on future Games – and more central government and sports governing body funding for learning disability sport.
Special Olympics Great Britain is focused on growing local club capacity and in supporting the government's vision of an inclusive future for disability sport, hopes to engage to a further 12,000 athletes by the end of 2013.

The competition pathways provided by Special Olympics GB for athletes with learning disabilities of all abilities from grass-roots to international levels will be of great value as more people with learning disabilities become regularly involved in sport. The Special Olympics National Summer Games - as the largest sports competition in Great Britain for people with learning disabilities - will be a key part of this.

According to Special Olympics GB CEO Karen Wallin, “This unprecedented report delivers valid and practical data on the value of sport to people with learning disabilities. It is also an important tool to help us evaluate the future role of our organisation in view of the changing sporting landscape and the hopes for a more inclusive society.”

Wallin continued, “It is clear that our clubs are struggling, as are a large majority of mainstream clubs, with funding, facilities and volunteers cited as the 3 main barriers to growth. One thing is clear that further investment is needed to reverse the trend of declining participation in sport by disabled people and to build capacity to support local clubs and it is our hope that Special Olympics GB can be considered alongside priorities for disability sport and sport more widely.”
The report was welcomed by Hugh Robertson, the Minister for Sport and the Olympics, who said: "Lessons learned from this study are immediately transferable as the nation prepares to host other major sporting events, such as the Olympic Games and the Rugby World Cup.

"The challenge of how to drive a legacy for these events is one we all face - and the lessons picked up by this work will be of enormous use to us," he said.

Highlighted Findings

• Eight out of 10 respondents agreed it was good to have the opportunity to mix with people with learning disabilities.

• Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) agreed the games brought disabled and non-disabled people in Leicester closer together.

• Being part of Special Olympics helped to counteract the isolation experienced by people with learning disabilities.
Development of self-esteem through participation in the Games was also an important factor in coping with life, especially bullying.

• Special Olympics offers important opportunities for self-realisation, competition and sociability for athletes, family members and carers and a potential forum for developing greater awareness and lasting relationships between disabled and non-disabled people.

• It urges Special Olympics GB to modernise by reviewing several core elements of the event, including funding and fundraising, as well as the scale of the National Summer Games, given the current economic climate. The report records that SOL 2009 would not have taken place, had Leicester City Council not underwritten the £200,000 costs of hosting the games and contributed a further £1 million when commercial and other funding could not be secured.

• The report also urges Special Olympics GB to address the under-representation of athletes from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups. Relatively few athletes or carers were from BME communities at the 2009 games, contrasting sharply with the ethnicity of the volunteers who helped run the games, with around 40 per cent drawn from Leicester’s diverse population. It recommended that the programme reflect the diverse face of modern Britain.