A new national campaign has been launched aimed at ending negative perceptions around disability and inclusion in sport.

The 'who says?' campaign from Activity Alliance will challenge widely held misconceptions and seek to replace them with positive evidence.

It has been created in response to recent research by the charity which explored non-disabled people’s attitudes on inclusive sport and physical activity.

Barry Horne, Chief Executive of Activity Alliance, said: “If we truly want everybody to benefit from being active, then we need to call time on negative perceptions.

“The positive messages in our campaign provide a fresh and authentic view of the sports world. We are asking you to join us in creating a movement built solidly on equality, freedom and choice.”

Six films will highlight findings from the research, which are summarised by the following statements:

     1. It’s not a real sport if you have to adapt it.

     2. Disabled people aren’t competitive.

     3. Watch what you say around disabled people.

     4. Disabled people don’t want to join in.

     5. Disabled people might get hurt.

     6. Everyone can’t take part together.

Activity Alliance says disabled people are twice as likely to be physically inactive as non-disabled people. The main barriers are psychological, logistical and physical, with psychological being the most influential – including disabled people’s personal impression of sport and non-disabled people’s attitudes about disabled people playing sport.

To find out more, visit the Activity Alliance page on the ConnectSport directory. To add your organisation to the directory, contact hello@connectsport.co.uk.