Leamington-based sight loss charity lands barrier-breaking partnership with leisure centre operator

The Leamington-based sight loss charity, British Blind Sport, is partnering with a leading leisure centre operator to break down barriers to exercise and sport for blind and partially sighted people.

The UK’s national charity for people with sight loss, British Blind Sport, is working with Places Leisure 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 would like 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.

Places Leisure – a social enterprise which operates more than 80 leisure centres across the UK – is seeking advice from British Blind Sport on ways to make their centres more accessible to blind and partially sighted people.

The programme has already seen more than ten workshops delivered to 111 staff across five leisure centres, where British Blind Sport’s team 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.

Places Leisure is now looking to expand the training programme to their network of leisure centres across the country.

Frankie Rohan, Workforce Officer at British Blind Sport, is partially sighted and delivered the workshops to staff.

She said: “Research shows that blind and partially sighted people are twice as likely to be inactive compared to people without sight loss – and leisure centre operators are ideally placed to help us change this.

“Leisure centres are based at the heart of communities – and they are a great place for us to start in terms of helping to break down any perceived barriers for those with sight loss.

“The workshops themselves are delivered by people living with sight loss, such as myself, so the sessions provide great insight to leisure centre staff about quick and effective ways that they can make a difference.

“It has been wonderful working with Places Leisure so far to upskill their workforce and provide examples of best practices for staff to create a welcoming environment and experience in the leisure centres, helping those with sight loss to feel comfortable and confident using their services – and I’d urge other leisure centre operators to get in touch with us.”

Rob Clark, Learning and Development Partner at 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 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.

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

Jonny Pickering, Head of Healthy Communities at Places Leisure added, “We constantly strive to provide the most inclusive service possible for our customers.

The See Sport Differently training allows our colleagues to experience firsthand what it’s like to access leisure centres, from the perspective of blind and partially sighted people. With this insight, our teams can remove any potential barriers our customers may face, ensuring a first-class service at our venues.

We look forward to continuing our partnership with British Blind Sport and Royal National Institute of Blind People”.

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