How often do you play sport? Are you part of a university club, or do your friends have kickabouts at the park on weekends? Now imagine every time you wanted to play sport, you had to Google the nearest available venue, buy hundreds of pounds worth of specialised equipment, ask a friend to drive you and your equipment to that venue, then get told by other people that you don’t play a real sport.
These are only some of the frustrations that come with disabled sports, with others including but very much not limited to: lack of funding, lack of opportunity near you, and even, you’re not disabled enough within a league’s classification system. (Yes, that’s real.)
Sports is such a massive opportunity to stay active, have fun, and connect with people. Why can’t disabled people experience the joy of sport at the same level of convenience that abled-bodied people do? I talked to NUSU president Leo David Prajogo on how his views of sport changed with his disability and how others see parasport, and Paralympic club thrower Stephen Miller on the importance of sporting opportunities in the local community.
