A wide range of organisations with the ideas and expertise to open up more sporting opportunities for disabled people will be able to bid for at least £10,000 ($15,800/€12,400) of National Lottery funding from Sport England.

The fund – Inclusive Sport - will help to tackle the opportunity gap that sees just one in six disabled adults playing sport regularly, compared to one in three of their non-disabled counterparts.

Some 17.6 per cent of disabled people play sport at least once a week, which is up from 15.1 per cent in 2005 when London won the right to stage the Olympic and Paralympics.

"I am delighted that this new allocation of funding is available and is specifically targeted at improving access to grassroots sport to more disabled people," said Grey-Thompson (pictured below).

"I am confident that this will encourage people who don't come from a traditional sporting background to participate."

There are a number of challenges facing disabled people wanting to take part in sport, such as a lack of specialist equipment, transport issues, low self-confidence, coaches and organisations that are not trained to offer sport inclusively and poor information about the opportunities available.

The funding boost forms part of the Places People Play legacy programme that aims to bring the inspiration of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities all over the country.

"It is an uncomfortable truth that disabled people enjoy fewer opportunities to get involved in sport," said Sport England chief executive Jennie Price.

"Sport England is committed to changing that, and making it easier for disabled people to fit sport into their daily lives.

"The Paralympic Games will put the sporting achievements of disabled people in the spotlight as never before.

"I want to make sure that Sport England's £8 million ($12.6 million/€9.9 million) Lottery investment is a catalyst to help more disabled people get involved."

Inclusive Sport will build on recent investments by Sport England to make available the expertise offered by the disability sport sector to other organisations that want to get disabled people playing sport.

It affords opportunities for new partnerships that bring together experts from both the sport and disability sectors.


It also heralds a greater focus on disabled participation throughout the sport sector.

A large number of sports bodies are currently drawing up ambitious plans to increase participation levels among disabled people over the next four years.

From football to fencing any sport seeking public investment for its disability plans will be required to sign up to targets for raising participation rates among disabled people.

"We want more disabled people to have the opportunity to play sport," added Sports Minister Hugh Robertson.

"In the year the Paralympics come home, this £8 million ($12.6 million/€9.9 million) investment will help break down some of the barriers to participation and make sport a more viable choice for disabled people."

Details of the fund and how to apply can be found by clicking here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]