Analysis: The Wheelchair Basketball4All event sets out to create a positive narrative around disability, but does a whole lot more than that
By Diarmuid Lester, UCC and Paul Ryan, Irish Wheelchair Association Sport
Over 500 students are about to experience what wheelchair basketball is all about. Drawn from 32-schools across Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny, 500 transition year students are set to attend this year's Wheelchair Basketball4All event at Cork's Mardyke Arena this week.
For the players, the aim of this event is to allow them the opportunity to experience adapted physical activity in a fun, supportive and inclusive environment. For the organisers - students and staff from the School of Education in UCC, Irish Wheelchair Association Sport, Cork Sports Partnership, UCC Sport and the venue - this showcases what can be achieved through a multi-stakeholder approach.
This event sets out to create a positive narrative around disability through wheelchair basketball. It's important to note that one in four people will experience a physical disability, either directly or indirectly through a family member or close friend, during their lifetime. Disability and disability inclusion, then, is everyone's responsibility.
Ireland’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2018 has propelled us towards a more inclusive education system. This shift is seen by the decreasing number of students with disabilities attending special schools, with more and more students now being integrated into mainstream settings, albeit often with additional support. All the same, individuals with disabilities in our community still face less positive outcomes than their counterparts in the mainstream population.
This event gives students a sense of what it is like to participate in meaningful physical activity while living with a physical disability. It also highlights the work of the organisers in promoting the inclusive message that physical activity is for everyone, which is in line with the National Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for Ireland launched earlier this week. Simply put, people with disabilities have the capability and should therefore strive to achieve the physical activity recommendations just like everyone else.
The event helps us to challenge stereotypes, reduce stigma and foster a more inclusive society where individuals with disabilities are valued and empowered
The level of interest and demand from schools in this event is incredible, with the event reaching full capacity within 48 hours of registration opening. While this event was part of the calendar in UCC for some years pre-pandemic, it has now been revived and increasing in profile.
The buzz in the Mardyke on the day is something to behold. Considering that this is a completely new experience for almost all students and no prior experience is necessary, the level of engagement throughout the day is remarkable.
Students from single-gender and mixed-gender schools all play against each other, which isn’t often the case in extra-curricular sport. While the wheelchair is a potential leveller at first, particularly as students get used to the adaptation from what they will have experienced before in running basketball, it is the schools who communicate most effectively and work together that typically prevail, key skills within both our junior cycle and senior cycle education frameworks.
In addition to the Wheelchair Basketball4All event itself, Irish Wheelchair Association Sport recently led a Leadership Training Day on Disability Sports for TY students. Each school was invited to send two or three students who they felt would be suitable for and benefit from this opportunity. It is envisaged that this training day would help support these students and, in turn their peers to become leaders or champions within the disability sports sector, both within their schools and the wider community. The training day provided participants with a blended learning approach to suit a wider range of learners through practical and theory-based content.
Both the leadership training and the wheelchair basketball event help us to challenge stereotypes, reduce stigma and foster a more inclusive society where individuals with disabilities are valued and empowered. By addressing these issues with our TY students, we are striving to create a more inclusive society where individuals with physical disabilities have equal opportunities to thrive and contribute to their communities. In what we feel is a subtle approach, we aim to continue to empower our young people to become advocates for inclusion in their schools and beyond.
The Wheelchair Basketball4All event takes place at The Maydyke Arena, Cork on Thursday March 14th
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Dr. Diarmuid Lester is a Lecturer in Physical Education, Health and Wellbeing in the School of Education at UCC. Paul Ryan is National Operations Manager with Irish Wheelchair Association Sport and a former sailing and wheelchair basketball international and paralympic athlete.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
