Community Project of the Year Award Winners 2006 (Sponsored by Radio City and Alliance and Leicester)

The group is now seeking to operate on a more formal basis as a not for profit social enterprise, registering as a Community Interest Company which will seek to trade profitably and achieve sustainability by selling its services while continuing to expound its clear social objectives.

Daisy UK was formed to overcome the lack of understanding and awareness of people with a disability. Daisy believes that through sport and leisure and by using the medium of education, the barriers of discrimination can be broken down and sport can be played with an awareness of other people’s ability, disability and feelings, thus creating a more unselfish and caring society.

The need for an organization such as Daisy UK has been highlighted by the closure of special needs schools for children with a disability and the integration of these children into mainstream education. Daisy seeks to follow Government initiatives such as the Game Plan and will involve grassroots performers, highlighting fitness and health issues. An excellent way of achieving this is by targeting the young people in society and educating them from school age onwards. Through education, Daisy UK can alter the stereotypical thoughts and change people’s preconceived ideas about disability sport and with a little imagination and adaptation, ensure that sport and leisure are fun for all.

The primary objective of Daisy UK is to;

Promote the importance of disability awareness, inclusion and equal opportunities to young people and their guardians through sport, leisure and other activities by presentations, demonstrations and participation. The formation of Daisy UK has come about following two pilot studies working with children and young people, both able bodied and with a disability. The results achieved by both programmes were remarkable.

A multi-sport coaching session was created to observe how Daisy UK could deliver various sports and the resulting benefits to young disabled children. The children were recruited through the Liverpool Actionnaires, a club for visually impaired children who are interested in sport run by Action For Blind People. This session took place in the Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool. The target group comprised sixteen visually impaired children, aged 8 to 16 years, some with secondary disabilities such as limited mobility and learning difficulties. The sports and games chosen were football, goal ball, cricket and new games (e.g. parachute games). The session lasted 90 minutes and the feedback from the coaches and children was excellent. Some of the children were interviewed, they expressed their gratitude for the session and of how much fun they had. Following this initial pilot session, further coaching sessions have been undertaken with the participating group.

Another pilot study was held in June 2004 at Pudsey Grammar School, West Yorkshire. Two sports were chosen for this session; blind football and wheelchair basketball. There were 360 pupils at the school aged 6 to 11 years, both boys and girls. The day started with an oral presentation on disability and visual awareness. The pupils were divided in two groups; one group observed the wheelchair basketball presentation and the other the blind football demonstration. Several volunteers were asked to participate at the end of the demonstration. The sessions took place simultaneous and lasted 30 minutes and after a ten minutes interval, the groups observed the other demonstration. The day was a big success (see appendix 4), feedback from the children was excellent, with many of them asking the coaches for their autographs. The Headteacher also participated in the sports and this added to the children’s enjoyment. Further feedbacks from the children suggested that most of them had never been in contact with blind or disabled people and were surprised to see how blind and disabled people can excel in sports.