Sheffield leisure centre agrees barrier-breaking partnership with sight loss charity

A Sheffield leisure centre is partnering with a national charity to break down barriers to exercise and sport for blind and partially sighted people.

Graves Health and Sports Leisure Centre is working with the UK’s national charity for people with sight loss, British Blind Sport, to support the See Sport Differently (SSD) campaign.

SSD is a Sport England-funded programme between British Blind Sport and the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which aims to tackle the biggest sporting barriers for the two million people in the UK living with sight loss while encouraging more blind and partially sighted people to get active.

It comes as research from the See Sport Differently campaign has shown that one in two blind and partially sighted people feel that having sight loss stops them from exercising as much as they want to, with one in three saying there are sports they want to try but have been unable to. The SSD campaign has also revealed that accessibility, confidence, and cost are listed as some of the key sporting barriers for those with sight loss.

The partnership has seen Graves Health and Sports Centre’s staff take part in an interactive workshop with British Blind Sport’s team to educate them about what it’s like living with sight loss, as well as thinking about physical and psychological barriers that exist at the leisure centre for those with sight loss.

The session provided advice on communication such as the suitable questions to ask in a front-of-house role, how to act as a guide for someone and using screen reader-friendly descriptive text for social media images. Advice was also provided on making physical alterations to the venue, including adopting consistent layouts for equipment, and including tactile markings and contrasting colours.

The session forms part of an ongoing relationship between the leisure centre and British Blind Sport as they continue their journey to enhance the venue’s accessibility.

Graves Health and Sports Centre is managed by Places Leisure, a social enterprise that aims to create ‘active places and healthy people’, on behalf of Sheffield City Council.

Michael Dulku, Contract Manager for Places Leisure, said: “Creating a place where the whole community can come together to exercise and socialise is really important to us, so we are really proud to be working with British Blind Sport to explore ways in which we can increase access to those hard-to-reach communities – one of which is those living with sight loss.

“All of our staff came away from the British Blind Sport workshop with a better understanding of how slight modifications to communication and the physical environment can level the playing field for those with sight loss.

“We’re looking forward to working with British Blind Sport on how we can implement new measures in the near future.”

Councillor Richard Williams, Chair of the Communities, Parks and Leisure Committee at Sheffield City Council, added: “We are dedicated to ensuring that everyone in Sheffield has equal opportunities when it comes to health, sport and wellbeing. To do this, we need to make sure that everyone has access to quality facilities and services.

“Initiatives like this help us do just that, and I am delighted to see Graves Health and Sports Leisure Centre working with this national charity for this incredibly worthwhile cause."

Frankie Rohan, Workforce Officer at British Blind Sport, is partially sighted and delivered the workshop to staff at Graves Health and Sports Centre. She said: “Research shows that blind and partially sighted people are twice as likely to be inactive compared to people without sight loss, and we want to change this.

“A key way we can address this is by educating the wider society on the capabilities of blind and partially sighted people – and the small changes they can make to create parity for those living with sight loss.

“We had the world’s largest sporting event for blind and partially sighted people on home soil last summer – the IBSA World Games - where more than a thousand elite athletes competed at the top of their sport to show the world why there should be equal opportunities for those living with sight loss – and initiatives such as See Sport Differently are crucial in helping to achieve that.

“Leisure centres are at the heart of communities, so to have the backing and commitment from Graves Health and Sports Centre in creating a welcoming atmosphere for those with sight loss will go a long way to making blind and partially sighted people feel that their local leisure centre is a space that they can use easily, comfortably and confidently.”

For more information about British Blind Sport visit www.britishblindsport.org.uk and for more details about See Sport Differently visit www.britishblindsport.org.uk/see-sport-differently

For more details on how to get active, visit www.britishblindsport.org.uk/activity-finder and www.placesleisure.org/centres/graves-health-and-sports-centre