This story was originally published on the Newsroom website
Making time to listen and understand will help women and girls with "invisible" impairments to play sport in New Zealand, Robyn Cockburn explains in this month's Fair Play podcast.
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One in four New Zealanders has a disability and many are still relegated to the sidelines of sport.
But they have as much right to participate in sport and recreation as the rest of us, said Robyn Cockburn, the chair of Shift, an organisation that seeks to improve the well-being of young women in New Zealand through accessibility to sport and recreation.
Ms Cockburn said that, while there's a focus on athletes with physical impairments, there are more that have "invisible" disabilities - like ADHD, cognitive dysfunctions, chronic pain and illness and learning difficulties. And they also deserve to be participating in and accessing sport.
She said 10 percent of children have an impairment of some kind, and only one percent have a physical impairment. Another 1 percent has a sensory impairment.
"That means the remainder of those children have an invisible impairment. It might be things like impaired speaking, developmental delays, capacity to comprehend," said Ms Cockburn, who consulted on Sport NZ's disability strategy.
"All of these things are likely to impact on their capacity to engage in things that others might engage with."
Ms Cockburn said removing barriers to participation is the key, and for many of those who have an "invisible" impairment, time is the crucial element.
"You need time to listen, you need time to understand and you need time to put that into practice," she said. "We [currently] don't organise our sports activities so that young kids have the time to do all of the things they need; particularly if they have an invisible impairment."
Other barriers include not having the financial resources to participate in sport, and poor mental health.
"We just need to think smarter about how we might make [sport] possible for people," Ms Cockburn said.
"We've got people who don't understand enough about conditions like ADHD, Asperger's, brain injuries, foetal alcohol syndrome - all of these things are features that start to impact on people's behaviour. So we need to train people in the sector.
"And I think we need to be saying to families who have kids with a disability, actually it's ok for you to find a way for your kids to have fun, to play and participate."
Sport NZ has worked with disability advocacy groups to identify five key areas to help grow accessibility to sport and recreation.
Ms Cockburn, who was also part of NZ Rugby's respect and responsibility panel, said leadership, enabling attitudes, increased capabilities by building knowledge, a co-ordinated delivery by sports networks and providing quality experiences and pathways, will help grow participation numbers.
Providing proper facilities that also cater for the needs of this group will help them engage with sport. She said doing the basics, like designing fit-for-purpose toilets, can go a long way to achieving accessibility.
Wellington's Basin Reserve is currently redesigning its toilets in the Museum Stand, and Ms Cockburn said that, while there's been a strong campaign around these toilets from a physical perspective, it's important to also think about those who have a range of different sensory conditions "for whom toileting can be a real challenge".
"There are certain sights they find alarming, the sound of hand dryers can be terrifying or the sound of flushing water," she said. "The smells can be overwhelming. You may need space that provides a parent or caregiver some room. And the concept of queuing can be very stressful."
Queues for the women's toilets have lasted up to 30 minutes at cricket games at the Basin Reserve. "Imagine if you had someone who is on the autism spectrum … that may be 30 minutes too long," she said.
"You can't always tell about the type of disability someone has by looking, so avoid making assumptions.
"Participation in active recreation and sport is a fundamental human right."
