Sporting success at Disability Awareness Festival
Last month, hundreds of children from across the county took part in ‘I Can, We Can’, the disability awareness festival in Sussex held by Albion in the Community, in partnership with American Express and supported by the University of Brighton. Children from eight schools including St. Mary Magdelin, Coombe Road Primary School, Westdene Primary School and Hamilton Lodge joined together to take part in a day of sporting fun for both disabled and able-bodied young people.
The inclusion festival brought together children from both mainstream and a special school to highlight the wide range of sports disabled people play including: wheelchair basketball, goal ball, sitting-volleyball, blind football and much more. The principle focus of the event was to raise awareness that everyone, including people of all abilities, can take part and enjoy sport together.
Over 50 American Express employees – who had received disability awareness training from AITC to prepare them for the day – volunteered their time at the festival and, through the activities, helped children understand valuable life skills such as team work, understanding and acceptance.
The event, held at the University of Brighton, proved of value not only to the children taking part, but also helped inspire teachers from the seven mainstream schools attending who teach both able-bodied and disabled pupils; arming them with new strategies to deliver inclusive sports sessions in their own schools.
Michael Edwards, Senior Vice President at American Express said: “We are delighted to extend our support to this important initiative which uses the power of sport to champion social inclusion, dignity and well-being for those with disabilities. Social inclusion is central to our core beliefs at American Express and we look forward to working on future projects in partnership with Albion in the Community to further help improve the communities in which we live and work.”
Teresa Sanders, Albion in the Community, Head of Disability added: “The festival was the culmination of months of work in schools led by our volunteers from American Express who are so passionate about this project. It was inspiring to see so many children from across Sussex come together to play and experience sports played by disabled people and show how we can all participate in sport together in a fun and positive way.”
In the run up to the festival, Albion in the Community and American Express employees held Disability Awareness Days at schools across the county reaching around 2,000 children. This involved the children taking part in a Blue and White non-uniform day, wearing Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club’s team colours to get into the sporting spirit and raise funds for Albion in the Community, Brighton & Hove Albion’s charitable arm to extend its invaluable work across Sussex and beyond.
