Active Disability Ireland are committed to being an insights led organisation, ensuring that our work is always led by the voice of living experience. Our strategic plan 2023-2027 outlines our ambition to embed living experience at the heart of our organisation, and to ensure this shapes and informs everything we do.
Listening to the voices of people with disabilities is the key to true inclusion and empowerment as it is only with living experience that we can make better decisions, challenge stereotypes and negative assumptions, and empower people with disabilities to advocate for increased opportunities to be physically active.
“Nothing about us without us.”
Current Research
Evaluation of Active Disability Ireland’s Xcessible Programme
The Xcessible programme aims to support NGBs and LSPs in becoming more inclusive of people with disabilities through a staged, structured approach. The programme helps organisations to build capacity to support people with disabilities and organisations are awarded bronze, silver and gold awards based on how they meet certain inclusion criteria. NGBs and LSPs are guided through each stage of the journey under the headings: Openness, People, Activities, Facilities and Promotion. The project is an evaluation of the programme’s impact where Active Disability Ireland will engage with NGBs and LSPs on the programme to ascertain the impact of the programme as well as to review and refine any elements that can be improved.
Youth Research
The Children’s Sport Participation and Physical Activity (CSPPA) study has highlighted a substantial gradient in participation in the younger demographic reporting that youths and children with disabilities are less likely to meet physical activity guidelines and engage in community-based physical activity than those without a disability. It is crucial that we reduce this gradient in participation and ensure that there are no inequalities present across populations.
Understanding the experience of young people with disabilities will enable Active Disability Ireland and the wider sector to provide more choice, and participation opportunities for children with disabilities to take part in sport and physical activity. This research project enabled the organisation to explore the living experience of young people with disabilities and examine barriers to activity as well as how they can be better supported to be active.
“I love exercising. I think it’s so important and everyone should be doing it.”
Teacher Research
Within the school setting, teachers are responsible for ensuring that all students are included within physical activity, however, the reality for many is that there are barriers which make this difficult. We can see these difficulties reflected in the statistics being reported in both the Irish Sports Monitor (ISM) and the Children’s Sport Participation and Physical Activity (CSPPA) studies as well as our own Youth Research Report.
It is imperative that we understand teachers’ experiences so that we can help them to facilitate an inclusive physical activity environment for all of their students. In order to better understand the living experience of teachers in Ireland Active Disability Ireland undertook a research project to explore teachers experiences to understand what challenges teachers face and how we can support them to provide inclusive physical activity for their students.
“I think that all students should have the right to take part.”
Research Quotes
“Exercise, it’s a human thing. If you want to exercise, regardless of what your body looks like, whether you have an impairment or not, that is your right. You should be able to do that without extra barriers in your way. ”
“You’re very conscious that you don’t want to stand out just because you have a disability. You want to be able to thrive as well. ”
“Physical activity gives me a huge release of any anxiety, anger or upset, it also gives me time to socialise with people.”
Upcoming Projects
Evaluation of Active Disability Ireland’s Active Healthy Me Programme
Active Healthy Me is a free health and wellbeing eLearning programme, that is delivered by disability support staff to people with disabilities in adult day service locations. Developed in partnership with the HSE and supported by Sport Ireland, the aim of the programme is to increase the knowledge and understanding of people with disabilities on the importance and benefits of being physically active, living a healthy lifestyle and the opportunities that are available to participate within their local community.
The evaluation will seek to measure the impact that the programme is having on service users through direct engagement. Insights from this evaluation will enable the Active Healthy Me programme to continue to operate effectively as we continue to develop and refine its features.
Resources
Participation Matters Guidelines
Participation Matters is a set of guidelines launched by the National Disability Authority (NDA). The guidelines aim to support public bodies to meaningfully consult with and actively involve disabled people and their representative organisations in decision making. The guidelines update the 2002 ‘Ask Me’ Guidelines for effective consultation with people with disabilities. The guidelines were informed by extensive consultation with Disabled Persons Organisations and other stakeholders.
Participation Matters Guidelines
Children’s Participation in Decision-making
Children have the right to express their views and to have those views considered, according to their age and understanding. Public bodies and organisations that work with children have a responsibility to respect that right. However, for organisations that have never engaged with children in their decision-making processes, this can seem like a daunting task. The Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) developed guidelines which outline some of the key things to consider when seeking to hear the views of children. The guidelines also provide signposts to additional resources where more details can be found.
OCO Children Participation Guidelines
Collaborative research with disabled people: Guidance for researchers
This guidance document is a practical resource to support researchers to meaningfully involve people with disabilities in collaborative research projects. This is a broad guidance document that applies to all levels of involvement in collaborative approaches to research.
NDA Collaborative Research Guidance
Research Partners
