Youth Disability and Sports - Case Study Example

Case Study: Youth Disability and Sports Introduction Disable person face a number of challenges while engaging in sports related activities activities. There exists mechanism around United Kingdom in ensuring the disable access programmes related to sports and physical activities. The aim of sports among the disability is to provide an equal playing ground and foster the well being of the disable youths. Barriers associated with disable people related directly with the government support and social response within the surrounding environment (UK sports, 2014. The essay will compare systems designed across United Kingdom and will identify the public participation in ensuring these formulations become effective. Empowerment is a means of appreciating youth with disability and their inclusion in matters sports will be determine by the essay. The family being the important factor in supporting those youths living with disabilities, will be scrutinised and there support towards these development dealt with. The recommendations will be based on the case study and problems that exist in London and its immediate environment. Findings The English federation of disability sports (2013) indicates a higher number of youths participating in sports related activity. The figure states the more active age within the community is 16- 19 years where 50% of the youths take part in these activities. Mechanism set by sports England in partnering with the English federation of disability sports to organise events in London with an aim of empowering the disability among the communities (cnn.com, 2014). The efforts by the federations are only bases to improve those youth who have established there career. The nature of sport depends majorly on the individual effort and interest. Congenital disabilities tend to appreciate sports and take part in these activities with much ease. Those who acquired their conditions later on in life tend to shy away from any sport related activities. Sports England (2013) indicates lack of motivation and support for the low levels of the disable youth engagement in sports. Existing gaps in sports development The gaps that exist within sport and the disability conditions are associated with lack of the parental, guardian and community in appreciating and offering the youth a chance to participate in sports. A survey by the Salmon Youth Centre (2013) indicates that most youth fail to turn up for training citing the inability by their parents to frequently accompany them to the facility. The problems facing the youth are more associated to the immediate environment (International Platform on Sport & Development, 2009). London enjoys more facilities than other counties. The disability among the youth causes a negative impact on the morale and determination of the youths. The Paralympics held in London indicate a reduction in number of youth participants in the sport. The age between 16 and 25 had a decline in its representation in the 2012 Paralympics as compared to 2005 (National disability authority, 2013). The reduced representation is attributed to motivational factors. The disable youths indicate a change in leisure activities; they prefer watching television and internet usage as a means of self reliance. The impact is evident in many facilities across London indicating idle capacity due to lack of youth talented in sports using them to train and acquire new sports ( Collins, 2013). Many youth indicated a reduced in community participation in aiding their development in sports. The facilities available are situated in locations unsuitable for mobility disabled youth to asses them (Oliver, 2011). The difficulty in assessing these facilities is worsened by the regulation available in the training facilities in relation with disabilities. The shift of leisure activities is blamed at the accessibility nature of the training facilities (Department for culture, media and sports, 2013). The distance between various homes and subsidised government facilities is large and most tend to depend on charitable and privately owned centres to enhance their sports skills. The fee associated with training in these facilities tend to be high and many parent prefer seeking other alternatives and in some cases the disable youth become less supported even by their own parents (Steadward, 2012). The housing plan along in London provides less space that will enable the disabled youth to practice on their different sports. The indoor concept of architecture allows limited sports to be practised (Salmon Youth Centre, 2013). This is different as compared to Manchester where designs allow space for training and sports development. The housing designs are as a result of limited space. The result is many such youths lagging behind in training and sports development compared to their counter parts from various countries in United Kingdom ( Right to play, 2013). Ireland indicates measures to ensure children while at home accesses the training grounds. The other obstacle in London related to youth disabilities in relation to sport is the commercialization of the sports activities (Thomas, 2013). Many stakeholders tend to shy off from empowering the disable population in matter sports as they term them as uneconomical (Special Olympics, 2007. Soccer in London is among the largest contributors in London’s revenue. The revenue is collected from the FA; the stakeholders fail to invest in programs related to sports for the disable as they operate as commercial companies rather than organisations with social responsibility (Football association, 2013). The noncommittal nature of the corporate world and the responsible stakeholders plays a negative role in motivating the disable youths to use the sports as future employment opportunities. The talent possessed by the youth is ignored by the institutions assigned the mandate of ensuring the well being of the youths (Football association, 2013). There exist few facilities around London compared to the large number of youths with disabilities. The available facilities charges admission fee and are used for therapy based sports rather than ensuring the development of different sports among the disable youths( Fitzgerald, 2009). Discussion Government involvement Needs vary depending on individuals and the nature of interest among youth disabilities should be the key achievement while formulating programs. The government and all stake holders need to identify these needs and integrate them in their social agendas. The main idea of assessing the community to ascertain the number and nature of talent is to ensure that the government budgets accordingly. The government regulations should safeguard the interest of persons living with disability and their interest in sports against exploitation and intimidations. The nature of government funding need to be classified according to individuals needs. There ought to be a separated government with individuals funded in two categories. The individual funding based on the social nature of an individual. London being a metropolitan area the identification process by the government for individuals requiring individual funding may be simple as the statistic and access to various organisations is simplified. The society and immediate environment A negative attitude create by the youth living with disability towards sports, is created by the surrounding factors. The family needs to support their children in any sports activity they undertake the aim is to ensure they achieve their talents. The culture of society to demoralize the disable persons plays a role in the decreasing number of sports participant in the United Kingdom. Formulations by the local government should be aimed at ensuring the society is informed and train on how to assist these youths. The solutions depend majorly on existing atmospheres among the environment. The engagement of the society in matters learning and training the youths in various sports will provide the needed environment in which they will improve on their skills. The family members need to be supportive in that they should adjust their schedule to give moral support to their children and assist them locate the training facilities. Sports association involvement The sports association failure to identify key problems among the related sports has lead to exploitation and neglect of the disable youth. The commercialisation of the sport activities forces many disable youth to get involved in these activities. The money aspect attracts many players to invest in the sport but profit making priorities. The neglectful nature of federations ends up undermining the disabled youth and their sports involvement. The schools should be the perfect place to ensure development of sports among the disable youths. The advantage of using the school as the training facility is that one can be able to keep track of the youth involved and would ensure the responsible departments become responsible and account for any development by the disable youth. The disability training centres across London should collaborate with schools in order to advance their sports talent. The collaboration of the two sectors will enhance sports among the youth with disability as a preferred opportunity rather than a leisure activity. School programmes ought to encourage more youths to join sports. The integration of academics and sports provide for the much needed moral support and encourages the youth to take alternative challenges rather than academics. Organisational social responsibility The society plays a major role in ensuring the youth asses the needed facilities. The social responsibility objectives haunt all organisations. The profit making scheme by major stakeholders jeopardise the needed to encourage and provide training facilities to the disable youths. Those available are clubs and have private ownership. The government need to regulate these activities with an aim of ensuring the disable youth access these facilities without problems. Government should provide alternative facilities and through the private sector encourage the creation of more a round London. The success of the program will depend majorly on the community and the government working together to remove barriers. The society is the dominant aspect for the successful engagement by the disable youth in sports. The corporate world and the government should sensitize people about the need for support and positive. These will eradicate the stigma within society on disabilities. The acceptance by the society will ensure more youths engage in sports due to the friendly environment created by the immediate environment. Conclusion Sports among the disable youth in London is n the decline. The evidence of reduced youth participation is the number of youth athletes in the Paralympics and other national events. The main concern of these problems is that the major players tend to ignore the challenges faced by these disable youths. The interest in sports is killed at a tender age due to the ignorance nature of the society and the parent. The ignorance nature of the immediate parents prompts the youth to select different activities to engage themselves in rather than participating in sports. The structural design of these training facilities indicates a barrier for the youths to access training services. Solutions towards these predicaments lie on the government for providing financial support and regulate the activities of federations related to people living with disabilities. The nature of the community based environment ensures that the disabled youth engage in sports without obstacles. Recommendation The government needs to regulate the activities of the disable people in sports as a means of protecting them from cartels aiming to exploit them. The English federation of disability sports needs to restructure their organisation in order to bridge the gap that lies between the sports and the disable youth. A comparison across the countries, between the lives and willingness to engage in sports by the youth, needs to be done in order to ensure that equal social amenities are provided for the disable youths and other disable people. The set framework should be developed in order to provide formulation which is oriented around the youth agendas. An access program should be in line to ensure more youths are involved in sports. Those aiming at becoming to become professionals should be lined up with much needed state support. The families on the other hand should create a convincing environment where the youths will grow up appreciating sports. There needed to be different federations for different sports as is the case for normal youths. The mandate of the federation will be to tap talent and provide them with needed support. The federations should offer training and financial support and direct the parties involved to integrate disability sports in their activities Implementation The annual sport budget by the government should include the sports in its design. The action should be carried out to ensure financial support and encourage other interest parties to invest in youth with disability. The major concerns by potential investor should be dealt with by the government. The programs should be integrated in the school’s curriculum with the schools nurturing talent and exposing the disable youth in active competition with an aim of offering them moral support and exposing them to real life scenario. The schools need to collaborate with the sports association as a means of securing the disable youth with the life time opportunities for those youths willing to go professional with the various sports. The selection of the nation team in various teams should be done based on these programs as a way of appreciating grassroots efforts and exposing the youths to opportunities worldwide. The society should formulate mechanism that connects the sports with social related support. Reference CNN,2014,Paralympics schedule [30 March 2014] Collins, D.,2013, Conference Report. National Disability Sport Conference. London: Kings Fund Centre. Department for culture, media and sports, 2013, creating a sport habit life, available at< https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78318/creating_a_sporting_habit_for_life.pdf> [30 March 2014] EFDS Report, 2013, Disabled People’s Lifestyle Survey September 2013, London, sports England . Football association,2013, the football development strategy 2014- 2018, London, FA. Football association, 2013, disable people football update, London, FA. Fitzgerald, H., 2009, Disability and Youth Sport, London, Routledge. International Platform on Sport & Development, 2009, Thematic Profile: sport and disability. Available from, [30 March 2014] National disability authortity,2013, promoting the Participation of People with Disabilities in Physical Activity and Sport in Ireland. Available from http://www.nda.ie/cntmgmtnew.nsf/0/7020D28F7F65773A802570F30057F05E/$File/Promoting_Participation_Sport.pdf> [30 March 2014] Oliver, M., 2011 , The Politics of Disablement. Basingstoke, Macmillan. from [29 March 2014]. Right to play, 2013,Sports and persons with disabilities: fostering inclusion and wellbeing, Availble from, < http://www.righttoplay.com/International/news-and-media/Documents/Policy%20Reports%20docs/Harnessing%20the%20Power%20-%20FULL/Chapter5_SportandDisability.pdf>[30 March 2014] Salmon Youth Centre , 2013, disability and social responsibility survey, London, Salomon youth centre. Special Olympics, 2007, The Right To Play Becomes Reality in Bourgas, available from [30 March 2014]. Steadward, R. (2012), Integration and sport in the Paralympic movement, Sports Science Review, vol.5 issue 10 .26–41. Sports England, 2013,Making English sport inclusive: equity guidelines for governing bodies, London, sports England. 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