{"id":6467,"date":"2019-08-09T09:05:22","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T08:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/?p=6467"},"modified":"2025-11-11T08:42:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T08:42:21","slug":"masdp-evaluation-report-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/it\/masdp-evaluation-report-released\/","title":{"rendered":"MASDP Evaluation report released!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Dr Jen Dyer, Dr. Rachel Sandford and Dr. Angharad Beckett<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Mixed Ability Sport Development Programme (MASPD) aims to promote social inclusion through sport, education and advocacy. The Mixed Ability model is being developed and championed by the not-for-profit organisation, International Mixed Ability Sports (IMAS) who first developed the approach through the context of rugby. Mixed Ability sport encourages social inclusion by integrating players regardless of dis\/ability into a mainstream sport setting and emphasises the importance of sustainable provision, self-determination, club membership and opportunities for social interaction. The MASDP can be seen to contribute to a growing body of work on the use of sport\/physical activity as vehicles for positive impact through, for example, cultural cohesion, gender equity, education and social inclusion. Moreover, it aligns with the Article 30 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Article, which states that participation in mainstream sport should be a right for all individuals.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Sport England-funded MASDP allowed IMAS to trial Mixed Ability in\u00a0rowing, cricket, boxing, tennis, golf, exercise, movement and dance (EMD) and bowls.\u00a0IMAS also attracted interest from swimming, cycling, wheelchair basketball and\u00a0KinBall during the Programme.\u00a0Activities were\u00a0initially\u00a0concentrated in the Bradford area but by the second year, IMAS had expanded the footprint to a regional level, including areas in South Yorkshire and the North West of England.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-6460 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/0001-1024x402.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"813\" height=\"319\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0001-1024x402.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0001-300x118.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0001-1080x424.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0001-1280x503.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0001-980x385.jpg 980w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0001-480x188.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0001-900x353.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/0001.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 813px) 100vw, 813px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The MASDP\u00a0was evaluated by\u00a0researchers from the University of Leeds and Loughborough University between Nov 2016 and Jan 2019. A large amount of data was collected through interviews and workshops as well as active participation and\/or participant observation in Mixed Ability sports.<\/p>\n<p>Key findings are that:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mixed Ability sport\u00a0has the potential for positive impacts at the individual, club and societal level<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>At individual level, participants reported both physical and mental health benefits, increased self-confidence and self-determination as well as a sense of belonging in the Mixed Ability team, club or group. For example, one participant stated <em>\u2018It\u2019s made me more confident about doing other things. When I start learning new things, and if I haven\u2019t done it before, I get really nervous \u2026 and since I\u2019ve come here I don\u2019t feel I get nervous anymore.\u2019 Antony Binns, Mixed Ability boxing participant.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>At the club level, respondents reported a more inclusive club culture, new members and a membership more representative of the local community, more accessible infrastructure and coach development. A representative from one of the Clubs embracing Mixed Ability said <em>\u2018Mixed Ability has transformed our club culture. It makes me wonder how we can\u00a0make\u00a0the rest of society more\u00a0like this!\u2019<\/em><\/li>\n<li>More broadly, the impacts included the meaningful inclusion of disabled participants in mainstream sport. In addition, participants reported shifts in perceptions of dis\/ability, a raised awareness of\u00a0barriers to participation in sport and other areas of society, and enhanced communication, which are relevant for other areas of society.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The challenges of\u00a0promoting\u00a0Mixed Ability sport\u00a0highlight <strong>dominant societal perceptions of disability<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is\u00a0often assumed that\u00a0Mixed Ability\u00a0is disability sport under a different\u00a0name reflecting the societal norm of segregated disability sport. Mixed Ability is very\u00a0different as everyone participates in sport together as equals and regardless of dis\/ability.<\/li>\n<li>Non-disabled participants often label themselves as \u2018volunteers\u2019\u00a0rather than equal participants, highlighting the charitable perspective around disability, so often visible in society.<\/li>\n<li>Many people expect disabled participants to have lower\u00a0abilities\u00a0and\u00a0capabilities in sport. When this proves not to be the case, it really helps to break down this perception. For example, one interviewee stated: <em>\u2018I\u2019ll be honest and say I was expecting the [Mixed Ability beginners] to be slower to get to this level\u2019 Member of the Bradford Amateur Rowing Club, Mixed Ability squad.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The research shows that through the peer education and practical sports provision provided by the Mixed Ability model, these dominant societal perceptions are challenged and more inclusive sporting environments are created which benefit everyone involved.\u00a0Mixed Ability sport provides an innovative route for national governing bodies\u00a0and policymakers\u00a0seeking\u00a0to\u00a0increase their\u00a0impact\u00a0around sport, inclusion and dis\/ability.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018I mean why not? Why can\u2019t we be playing the same sports in a tournament? Blind against sighted people, or people in a wheelchair, or people that haven\u2019t got a disability. Why not?\u2019 Sam Keever, Mixed Ability bowls participant<\/em><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For the full research report\u00a0please click the image below:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6463\" style=\"width: 567px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/MASDP_EvaluationReport2019.pdf\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6463\" class=\"wp-image-6463\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/Imas_Socail_AW-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"557\" height=\"557\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Imas_Socail_AW-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Imas_Socail_AW-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Imas_Socail_AW-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Imas_Socail_AW-980x980.png 980w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Imas_Socail_AW-480x480.png 480w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Imas_Socail_AW-900x900.png 900w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Imas_Socail_AW-100x100.png 100w, https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Imas_Socail_AW.png 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6463\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MASDP Evaluation Report<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Dr Jen Dyer, Dr. Rachel Sandford and Dr. Angharad Beckett &nbsp; The Mixed Ability Sport Development Programme (MASPD) aims to promote social inclusion through sport, education and advocacy. The Mixed Ability model is being developed and championed by the not-for-profit organisation, International Mixed Ability Sports (IMAS) who first developed the approach through the context [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[542,206,185,209],"tags":[784,785,588,504,591,786,593,415],"class_list":["post-6467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-it","category-development-programme-it","category-mixed-ability-sports-it","category-sport-england-it","tag-disability-it","tag-loughborough-university-it","tag-masdp-it","tag-mixed-ability-sports-it","tag-research-it","tag-social-inclusion-it","tag-sport-england-it","tag-university-of-leeds-it"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mixedabilitysports.org\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}