The Inclusion Advisory Group (IAG) is an independent body within Hampshire FA who cover Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, and Bournemouth.
The group meet regularly to discus matters in their areas and try to make football a safer and more inclusive place for everyone in football, whatever their age, ethnicity, gender or even disability.
Their policies surrounding Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion will help there to be less taboo in football about topics surrounding these areas.
The disabled community regularly miss opportunities to speak out about their issues because they feel muted by society. For example Autistic people wish they could explain themselves and be heard. The matters raised by volunteers and group members help make changes to the way that clubs run, and to include children all the way to adulthood so that everybody gets a chance to do what they desire in sport.
The more challenging forms of Autism are sometimes the harder people to manage and it is the job of the community to include them. Some sports clubs just don’t have the right set of skills to make this happen and they fall at the very first stage. This leads to discomfort for the Autistic person and a black mark for the sport provider, which is happening way too often.
In a perfect world, everyone would be the same and all get along fine with each other. We know that this is just not the case – Once you’ve met one person with Autism, you have met one person. Also the gap between females and males having access to sport, whether disabled or not, is also a real issue still even now (see article Inequalities In Sport). Women are not viewed as important as men when it comes to football and this is very wrong. It has taken such a long time for ladies games to be on prime television. Hopefully this will get better!
Some of the points raised in this article need to be addressed so more budding sports players can be fairly represented and have a safety net when something is not quite right. Sport is a very easy way to get disabled people active and it provides a therapy for them to express themselves without the need for using their voice if they do not wish to.
Places that already do it right include:
Victory Hants An inclusion group for male and females (age 14-99) to make friends and be active through weekly football therapy sessions in Portsmouth.
Pompey In The Community Provide children and adults with different types of football to suit their ability and physical needs.
Enable Ability Opportunities for children and young people with mild to moderate physical/learning difficulties or SEN to engage in sport.