Barriers to sport for people with sight loss from ethnically diverse communities

About the research

The research was funded by Sport England via British Blind Sport. 

Kris and the team interviewed twenty-five people with sight loss from ethnically diverse communities in the UK about their experience of taking part in sport. They also did focus groups with civil society organisations involved in facilitating sport participation for people with sight loss from ethnically diverse backgrounds. 

More details about the research methodology are available in the article. 

Key findings

The article describes five overlapping and interconnected influences on sport participation for people with sight loss from ethnically diverse communities. These are: 

• personal values – whether people feel (or not) that sport participation is for them 

• family and community values – whether families and communities think taking part in sport is a worthwhile pursuit 

• opportunities – whether there are places for people to take part in sport (or not) 

• awareness – whether people have knowledge and information about where sport activities are taking place 

• access – whether sport provision is accessible and appropriate to people with sight loss from culturally diverse communities 

The intersectionality between sight loss and ethnicity creates a unique experience of sport participation for people with sight loss from ethnically diverse communities in the UK. People with sight loss from ethnically diverse communities can simultaneously experience discrimination because of their impairment and because of their culture/ethnicity.  

One research participant talked about the negative attitudes within their cultural community as: 

“If you are disabled, other Asians expect you to behave in a disabled way. In Pakistan disabled people just stay at home, and don’t live independently.” 

Another talked about the limited value on sport (compared to work and education) within their community:  

“In the Asian culture if you’re making money from it then fair enough, you’re doing something, you’re earning, but if you’re having to pay for it then you’d rather not do it. If you’re disabled and you want to do something and you have to pay for it then it’s definitely a no-no.” 

Another spoke about discrimination they experienced within the site loss community because of their ethnicity: 

“It’s classic unspoken things which make you feel, is it because I’m brown or an Asian, is that why, and I’m feeling isolated and you’ve already got your team and I’m on the sub[stitutes] bench because I don’t fit in—‘is that what it is, or is it my disability, what’s the issue?.’” 

The research also found that the challenges may be even greater for women and girls – additional issues about gender norms within different communities can create additional barriers.   

Recommendations for policy and practice

This is a complex topic and no single policy or programme is likely, on its own, to enable every person with sight loss from ethnically diverse communities to take part in sport how they would like to. The solution is to create a whole social context that is more encouraging and conducive to sport participation. This could be achieved by: 

• Making local sport facilities more accessible to people with sight loss. 

• Improving public transport. 

• Local and national sport and sight loss organisations working together to coordinate their activities. 

• Challenging racist and ‘ableist’ stereotypes within sport clubs and in communities. 

• Updating local databases about what sport activity is taking place locally.  

• Challenging gender norms and expectation around sport participation.  

• Encouraging sport participation from a young age to establish life-long habits.  

To find out more about the research, contact Kris Southby and download the research article for free.