EHRC: school games ban ‘illegal’

By Paul Carter

Children with learning difficulties will be able to compete in the UK School Games after organisers agreed to stage events exclusively for them.

The move comes after the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) told the Youth Sport Trust that excluding children with learning difficulties was “discriminatory and unlawful”.

But a spokeswoman for the Youth Sports Trust claimed that meetings on inclusion had already been held before the EHRC got involved and that the EHRC’s statement was an “extreme interpretation” of what had happened.

“Rather than a ban that’s been lifted it’s more accurate to say that we’re now working to include children with learning difficulties,” she said.

Steve Grainger, chief executive of the Youth Sport Trust, said: “Following recent dialogue with Mencap, we have agreed to work with them and the national governing bodies of sport to explore the opportunities and timescales for bringing in specific events and to ensure that there are clear pathways for young people with learning disabilities to progress from local to national level competition."

The paucity of events for children with learning difficulties reflects a ruling by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) excluding people with learning difficulties from the Paralympics, following the stripping of the Spanish basketball team of their gold medals in 2000 after 10 of the 12 members were shown not to be disabled.

Mark Harper, shadow minister for disabled people, welcomed the news. “I’ve campaigned for this with the British Paralympic Association and I’m delighted that this progress has been made.”

Baroness Jane Campbell, who chairs the EHRC disability committee, said: “We will not hesitate to use our legal powers to challenge unlawful discrimination. We’ll now be working to overturn the IPC ban and ensure these same young people can take part in the Paralympics in 2012.”