News Details
Access to sport for people with disabilities
Updated : 07/06/2019
The meeting of the Council of the European Union – Education, Youth, Culture and Sport took place on 22-23 May and a document entitled “Conclusions of the Council of the European Union and the representatives of the Member States meeting within the Council on access to sport for persons with disabilities” was adopted.
The document highlights that by 2020, the EU is expected to have around 120 million people with disabilities. He also stressed that the EU promotes equal opportunities and accessibility for persons with disabilities. He also underlined that Article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides for participation in cultural life,recreation, leisure and sport.
The following conclusions are addressed to the Member States:
support social awareness and education campaigns aimed at family members, legal guardians, personal assistants, physical education teachers, coaches, sports staff and other relevant actors in the sports community, with or without disabilities, with a view to promoting an open and welcoming approach for persons with disabilities.
support the further education and training of physical education teachers, coaches, other sports staff and volunteers in general, with or without disabilities, by equipping them with the necessary knowledge, specific skills and appropriate recognition of skills to enable them to include persons with disabilities in different physical or sports education settings.
c) In national school systems, promote inclusive sport and physical education programmes to meet the needs of children with disabilities, aiming to give equal opportunities to all children.
use existing channels of cooperation between Member States to promote the exchange of expertise and best practices in order to improve access to sport for persons with disabilities.