Activity Alliance launch campaign challenging negative perceptions of disabled people in sport

Who Says? is the new campaign launched today by Activity Alliance challenging negative perceptions of disabled people in sport. Previous research conducted highlighted that non-disabled people’s attitudes and perceptions could be causing long-lasting barriers for disabled people, leading to inactivity. For the least active audience in our country, people’s attitudes can make or break activity experiences.

The Who Says? campaign aims to challenge these misconceptions and presumptions on what is and isn’t possible for disabled people and open people’s minds to shift out-dated views on disability. The campaign aims to replace these perceptions with positive messaging and images, informing and educating non-disabled people on inclusive activity. These attitudes have a lasting effect on disabled people with low self-confidence, marginalisation and isolation affecting many individuals and leading to them being inactive.

Across Greater Manchester 20% of people have a disability or long term health condition, with 43.9% of these inactive compared to 22.1% of non-disabled people. Whilst the number of disabled individuals becoming active in Greater Manchester is increasing, more needs to be done to enable them to move more.

Louise Entwistle, GreaterSport’s Development Officer (Inclusive communities) commented “The Who Says? campaign is a great opportunity to bust myths about disabled people’s experiences of sport and educate everyone on the benefits that inclusive activities can have for everyone. Through the Get Out Get Active (GOGA) programme, which runs in Manchester, Rochdale and Wigan, the benefits of inclusive activity on individuals can clearly be seen. In Greater Manchester, we’re committed to enabling more disabled people to move more in their daily lives to help everyone benefit from physical activity.”

To find out more about the Who Says? campaign and to watch the campaign videos, click here.

More information on Get Out Get Active in Greater Manchester can be found here.