Blog: 'We are proud of our Charter and what it stands for'
The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) website features a blog post every Friday through the year. July's theme is EFDS's Charter for Change, which was launched by EFDS at an event in Parliament in February. This week, Charles Reed, Chair for EFDS, discusses the aims of the Charter. Charles explains how he wants it to make a major and sustained impact so more disabled people can be active for life.
Charles’ blog:
We are justifiably proud of our Charter and more particularly, what it stands for. It is fundamental to the EFDS strategic direction and our aim of ‘Making Active Lives Possible’ for disabled people, all of whom should have every opportunity to be as active as non-disabled people.
A great deal of thought went in to the structure of the Charter and our ‘Three Asks’. I believe the balance of the document is just right; it’s clear, concise and evidence based. In some respects though, the publication of the document and its launch were the easy bits. Now we have the tough job of seeking support from organisations involved in the provision of sporting opportunities, what we call the supply side of the equation and the Disabled People’s Organisations, the demand side, and getting them to not only endorse the Charter but embed it in their philosophy and act on it. We can’t allow the Charter to become another nice idea that ends up in the bottom drawer of somebody’s desk and never sees the light of day again.
Whilst we’re calling it our Charter, we are actually only the authors who are presenting the case on behalf of disabled people. It is based on our research and what we have been told are the main issues preventing the seven out of ten disabled people who want to lead more active lives from doing so. Those issues may be logistical, physical or psychological. We have captured them and the suggested ways of addressing them in our ‘Ten Principles’.
The Charter is for any organisation that has an interest in seeing more disabled people living a more active lifestyle. So far we have around eighty organisations that have expressed their active support for the EFDS’ Charter for Change. That’s good but we’ve a long way to go if this is to become a movement and the work of our engagement teams, management, Board and Members will be key in gaining the critical mass we need.
We have a new Government and new Ministers in post including Tracey Crouch MP as the Minister for Sport and Justin Tomlinson MP as the Minister for Disabled People. Tracey Crouch has made it clear in recent weeks that she will be developing a new strategy for sport with a particular focus on participation. Working in consultation with Sport England we need to take advantage of this opportunity to promote the Charter and its associated benefits, political, social and economic amongst Ministers and Parliamentarians. The values of the Charter should be espoused in any new strategy for sport and physical activity.
I have been EFDS Chair for four years, and on the Board for five years.
How to describe it? It’s quite time consuming and whilst it has its challenges and frustrations at times, overall it’s been a great learning experience and supremely rewarding. I’m lucky to have a first class group of Trustees on the Board and a very good working relationship with CEO, Barry Horne, and his team. For the past eighteen months I have also been on the Board of Sport England which gives me an extremely valuable opportunity to represent the interests of disabled people.
My corporate life was in financial services. I have always been a keen sportsman and my involvement with sports administration and volunteering began when I was a Divisional Director at Nationwide. I agreed a £1million support package for the Disability Sport Events swimming and athletics programmes between 2007 and 2013.
I became a working volunteer and a spokesperson for DSE, now EFDS’s events programme. I was inspired when I saw how sport could change lives so much and how much ability (and fun) the athletes had whilst gaining the attendant benefits of increased self-esteem, confidence and personal development. I met loads of great people as well; athletes, parents, staff, coaches, officials and fellow volunteers, all of whom went out of their way to show their appreciation for Nationwide’s support.
I was keen to do more to help and when I retired from Nationwide I made a throwaway comment that if ever I could do anything beyond volunteering at events, then please, EFDS, ask me. And they did, so here I am!
Now there’s a big role for everyone at EFDS, our partners and for those supporters of the Charter to play and an important job to be done. We all want to make that difference.
This Charter for Change is a long-term change opportunity for EFDS to lead. There has been an encouraging medium term trend of increasing participation amongst disabled people but we have to acknowledge that the two most recent Active People Survey results have shown a downshift. Our role as the strategic lead body in sport and physical activity for disabled people in England is to work with our partners and stakeholders to get that graph moving on a sustainable upwards trajectory once again – and fast. Recognition and adoption of the Charter will be a key factor in securing that improvement.
Many people still regard disabled people as a single homogenous group and imagine there should be a simple solution to the issue of participation growth in sport and physical activity. This is far from the truth. It’s a complex and multi-faceted task but if the providers of opportunities on the one hand and the Disabled People’s Organisations on the other, study the facts presented in the Charter, follow our ten principles and support the three “asks” through their actions and their lobbying, then I believe we will deliver a step change improvement and “Make Active Lives Possible” for all disabled people. That would make me extremely happy!
