Go All Out – Cara coordinated Ireland’s first ever inclusive outdoors week from July 18th to 24th 2022.
Cara’s Inaugural Go All Out Week was developed to inspire people with disabilities and professionals working in the outdoor sector to understand the value and to see the opportunities that are available to them in their local communities. Outdoor activity providers across Ireland were asked to get involved in what is Irelands first ever Inclusive Outdoors Week to help create more opportunities for people with disabilities to be active in the outdoors. The week was also an opportunity for people with disabilities to understand the value of participation in the outdoors and how they can access the activities and amenities locally.
Go All Out week was developed by Cara Sport Inclusion Ireland, supported by Sport Ireland Outdoors, to increase awareness among people with disabilities, their families/carers and outdoor activity providers on the benefits of regular exercise, a healthy lifestyle, and opportunities to participate in physical activity, of people’s own choosing in the outdoors. Organisations and individuals were invited to host inclusive outdoor events nationwide during the week. It could be hiking, walking, running, swimming, canoeing, cycling, fishing gardening, or even just strolling or rolling on the beach.
Go All Out also aims to increase the awareness and build the capacity of outdoor activity providers to be more inclusive and understanding of their provision of accessible and inclusive programmes for people with disabilities in their local community. Through the delivery of the week, Cara Sport Inclusion Ireland provided inclusion training to professionals that took part in the week in order to increase their level of knowledge and skill in the area of disability and inclusion.
The aim of this national week was to increase awareness for people with disabilities on the opportunities and benefits of the huge range of inclusive activities in the outdoors across Ireland. During the week, we will also hosted informative webinars and information sessions on the outdoors sector. You can view these below.
For further information please email Philippa at podonoghue@caracentre.ie
Promotional Partners
Why get involved?
- To increase opportunities for people with disabilities in your community to enjoy fitness and physical activities in the outdoors
- To promote your organisation’s ongoing outdoor programmes as inclusive of people with disabilities.
- To increase the awareness of your staff in promoting and delivering inclusive activities outdoors
- To form a strong partnership with your Local Sports Partnership and Sport Inclusion Disability Officer.
- To promote your facility and programmes to a National audience
What Outdoor Activity Providers were asked to do
1. Register Their Centre and host inclusive outdoor activity events
2. Connect with Local Sports Partnerships: Actively link with the Sport Inclusion Disability Officer within their LSP before, during and after the week to promote, develop and review participation in Go All Out.
3. Sign the Sport Inclusion Disability Charter: As part of the 2022 programme we asked organisations & facilities participating in Go All Out to sign the Sport Inclusion Disability. The charter can be signed here: https://activedisability.ie/sport-inclusion-disability-charter/
4. Promote: Work with the local LSP & Sport Inclusion Disability Officer to promote their participation in Go All Out 2022 and link with local individuals within their county.
5. Deliver: Participating centres could review their current programmes with a view of promoting activities to people with disabilities or in the case where no suitable programmes existed, review the possibilities of developing new activities. Activities could be delivered on site outdoors or virtually.
What they got by taking part?
- Certificate of participation to recognise involvement in Go All Out week 2022
- On-going support and resources from Cara to support inclusive practice.
- Access to Cara Resources to upskill and support staff.
- National promotion and recognition.
Event Listings
To see what happened in counties across Ireland for Go All Out week 2022 from participating outdoor activity providers, click below.
Participating Providers and Event Listings
Go All Out 2022 Ambassadors
To champion the week, two high profile outdoor enthusiasts were ambassadors for Go All Out to highlight the importance of the week. Nikki Bradley, adapted adventurer and Jack Kavanagh, motivational speaker.
Nikki Bradley
Nikki is an adaptive adventurer and one of Ireland’s leading motivational speakers. Nikki was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma at age of 16 and surviving the rare and often deadly form of bone cancer, offered Nikki unique opportunity to restart her life at a young age. She is the founder of “Fighting fit for Ewing’s” which aims to increase awareness about the disease as well as participating in physical challenges. The Donegal native attempted a Guinness World Record in Holland, tackled a route of the Solheimajokull glacier in Iceland, climbed The Sturrall in Donegal which is one of Ireland’s most outstanding sea cliffs and abseiled off it, completed the Fan Dance – a gruelling 24km trek through the snowy Brecon Beacons in Wales – all while relying on crutches.
In July 2018, Nikki became the first crutch user to climb four Irish mountains on crutches in less than 32 hours and in 2019 she completed a summer half marathon and a monumental visit to Tanzania, Africa where she volunteered with suicide prevention organisation ALPS. On the 7th of February 2022, Nikki had a rare type of surgery called a Rotationplasty. This is a form of amputation. She is currently working with specialists who are developing a prosthetic leg that will allow Nikki to live her life pain free.
Jack Kavanagh
Jack acquired a spinal cord injury in 2012 which left him with 15% muscle function. In the following years Jack has challenged the limits of his situation and increased awareness of the value of health & wellbeing as drivers for performance coupled with cultivating diverse & inclusive environments where people belong and are valued. Jack s well-known for his acclaimed TEDx talk ‘Fearless Like A Child, Overcoming Adversity.’
Jack is host of the ‘Only Human Podcast’ and sits on the board of directors of the National Disability Authority and Center for Excellence in Universal Design as well as the leadership development organisation Common Purpose Ireland. Jack has also received several international awards for his documentary ‘Breaking Boundaries.’ He is a keen hand cycler and can be seen on Instagram sit skiing down snowy mountains at ferocious speeds.
Go All Out 2022 Webinars and Videos
