By Grace, YPSP Member
On Wednesday 21st February, I attended the Children 1st event: ‘A Conversation about Children’s Human Right’s in Sport’ – as part of my involvement on the SDS Young Person’s Sports Panel (YPSP).
If you are unfamiliar with Children 1st, they are Scotland’s National Children’s Charity. Their ambition is for, “every child in Scotland to be safe, loved and well with their family.” This event, in particular, was focusing on their involvement in Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport (CWPS) and their partnership with sportscotland.
The main goal of the day was for Rae and I to present our presentation on our experiences of sport as disabled young people. Our fellow panel members, Dana and Charlotte, were also there to support the registration of the 150 delegates from sport’s governing bodies (SGB) in attendance.
Leading up to my presentation, I was definitely nervous. Knowing I was going to be presenting in front of such a large group for the first time was enough to get my heart racing. Never mind the fact that it was 150 people from SGBs, from all across the country – many of whom are experts in the area of CWPS.
I found it helpful to remember that we are the experts in our own lived experience. We were being brave by standing up and sharing our experiences (some negative, some positive) of sports, and nobody could criticise us for that. Children 1st were also very accommodating to those of us from SDS. They provided us with a lot of information beforehand to calm our nerves, a small breakout room for us to relax in on the day, and they were all-round accepting of our diverse needs.
We also had the chance to meet some other young people from the Scottish Rugby Youth Panel. It was lovely to chat to others who are just as passionate about a sport as we are, and to share our experiences of being on a youth panel.
In the end, the worry about our talk was over nothing. Our presentation was met with a lot of positive feedback. Our openness and honesty about our experiences, allowed for people to truly understand the need for children’s rights to be recognised in sport.
In summary, our presentation covered our (mostly negative) experiences of PE in school and how we were excluded from sport. PE teachers refusing to make adjustments to make sport accessible and ableism from other students in the classroom, infringed on some of our rights as young people, such as:
I have the right to be free from any discrimination (Article 2)
I have the right to an education (Article 28)
My education should develop my interests and talents (Article 29)
I have the right to play (Article 31)
We then gave advice on what could be done to make sport more inclusive. This was then highlighted by our discussion on how our involvement in disability sport has had such a positive influence on our lives. My involvement in Team United autism football, and Rae being part of Lothian Phoenix’s wheelchair basketball team, has definitely changed our lives for the better.
Our experiences of the SDS YPSP was another area we talked about. We mentioned how this experience allows us access for a lot of our rights as young people, such as:
I have the right to share my experiences, opinions and ideas and be taken seriously and involved in decisions that affect me (Article 12)
I have the right to express myself (Article 13)
I have the right to my own thoughts (Article 14)
I have the right to meet up with friends and join groups (Article 15)
We ended our presentation with a question for the audience: ‘What are some things you/your organisation could do to improve physical and social access to sport for disabled children and young people?’ This got some good, yet challenging, conversations up and running. We hope that the people who listened to our presentation can take some of their learning back to their sport. Disability inclusion in sport is our goal after all!
There were numerous other individuals who presented on the day, on a wide range of topics, including: incorporating the UNCRC into sport in Scotland, creating a rights-based approach and child-centered culture, the risk of right violations between children and adults in sport, and working towards a sporting world that protects, respects, and celebrates its people.
Having the opportunity to listen in on these courageous and truthful talks, and to get to be involved in discussions on how we can progress in the future, was an invaluable experience.