Inclusive Activity Murihiku (iAM) chair Kerryn Douglas is proud of what has been achieved in disabled sport in Southland in less than three years.

“Three years ago when we went looking there was not a lot and there wasn’t even a lot of chatter about disability,” she recalled.

“It’s great that we hear regional sports organisations talking about their delivery lens and that providing opportunities for people with disabilities is a really important part of their own capability. If they can do disability well, then they can do pretty much anything well.”

Prompted by her own experiences with son Connor’s para-cycling journey, Kerryn has been a leader in creating more opportunities for people with disabilities to be physically active, particularly through the establishment of the volunteer iAM organisation.

A collaboration between iAM, the Y Southland and Active Southland - supported by three years of funding from Sport New Zealand - has seen a number of new opportunities across active recreation and sport created, tested and trialled.

Sport New Zealand’s support and central government’s Disability Inclusion Fund helped fund a Disability and Inclusion Advisor, with Active Southland’s Chris Knight creating significant change during his time in the role.

“We have to keep raising the awareness, but what is being delivered in Southland now compared to two years ago is amazing,” Kerryn says.

“A lot of that is leveraging off the amazing coaching that Chris has been doing, and his engagement with the kids and the RSOs.”

Regular activations have been trialled across Southland, utilising a range of sports and venues, with a highlight being last year’s inaugural iAM Games.

“Launching the iAM Games was amazing. To have 60 kids and their families involved was awesome and a huge success. I was really proud of what that looked like, to have those kids coming in for the opening ceremony and to be recognised by Recreation Aotearoa with their Outstanding Event award just emphasised for us that we were doing a good thing.”

While a lot has been achieved in a short space of time, the potential was still huge, Kerryn said.

“When all the RSOs are doing disability well, then iAM won’t be required, or at least not in the same capacity. The end goal is to see a child go through school and have the same opportunities as a child without a disability, regardless of what sport or activity they want to engage with,” she said.

“We are also quite aware that we have only connected with tamariki and rangatahi and there’s a lot more of our community that could benefit from our support, especially adults...they are on our radar, but at the moment we are keeping our lane quite narrow and just trying to do what we do well.”

Article added: Monday 05 August 2024