At Sport and Recreation Services, International Day for People with a Disability allows our participants to participate in a number of events or showcase their skills in a variety of ways. The Disability Trust is committed to “creating an inclusive world” and International Day for People with a Disability is a great way to encourage inclusion across the community.

This year, our Altogether Drama group will be performing a traditional English pantomime of Cinderella, alongside the Wollongong Workshop Theatre group. The performers have previously been in a number of productions including Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and this is Altogether Drama’s 18th year of performing.

Every year, we hold our Christmas Party on the first weekend of December where all participants from all Sport and Recreation Service’s programs come together to enjoy a night of dancing and games. As always there has been a lot of excitement building over the past few weeks and we are sure it will also be a great night.

Finally, our Leisure Link group will be taking part in the Shoalhaven International Day for People with a Disability Dinner Dance, held annually at the Bomaderry RSL Club. This event is the hard work of the Shoalhaven Disability Forum, and our group has been busy making their hats for this year’s Happy Hatters theme.

What do you do to celebrate International Day of People with Disability? Share your story here.

As I have been away on holidays, I asked one of our newest team members at Sport & Recreation Services, Tennille Owen, to share her experiences in working with us and for a disability service provider.

Tennille is employed as our Administrative Assistant and is supported by The Disability Trust’s employment service Workskills.

Tennille has submitted her story about finding work in the disability sector to carecareers' True Stories section. You can submit your story too, to help job seekers decide if a care career is for them!

What do you want to hear about in my next blog? You can ask me questions at Career Advice and Opinions.

At the service I work in, we’re ultimately striving to provide as many opportunities as possible when it comes to sport and recreation for people with a disability. We’re always looking to support our participants in any way possible to help create an inclusive world.

I’d like to tell you about a young man whose love of sport has led him to volunteer his time with our service. Since leaving school a few years ago Brenton (pictured below) has assisted my staff and I two days a week, to teach a variety of sporting skills and drills to primary aged school students with a disability, in our BlueScope Steel Sports Ready Program. He is able to work hands on as a sports facilitator, which is something he has wanted to do for a long time.

Brenton is able to learn meaningful and relevant workplace skills through involvement in something he is passionate about – sport.

Brenton has down syndrome and dyspraxia, however this has not stopped him following his passions and he participates regularly in rugby league, basketball and soccer at state level.

I am extremely proud to have seen him build and improve his confidence and skills through working with our program. Not only have his skills increased, but his involvement has also boosted the skills of both myself and the staff he works with. We are learning new ways to communicate with Brenton, and his patience is always tested as we ask him to spell out what he is trying to say through signing.

Brenton’s help with the program is greatly valued, and I encourage other service providers to do the same in whatever way they can. As I am writing this, Brenton has just returned from a day out at the program. I ask him what he thinks the best part of volunteering with us is and he replies that it is "just being a part of the team".

Sport and recreational activities are a large part of Australian society, whether it is participating in, volunteering to help with, or just watching it live or on television. This is no different within the disability community and inclusion in sport or recreational activities should be encouraged.

The Disability Trust’s Sport & Recreation Services is a unique service, where we offer a number of different sport and recreational opportunities to people with disability. We cater for all abilities and offer programs for people from a grassroots level, through to elite competition. We are about giving sport and recreation a go, no matter who you are.

As a Manager of the service, I am regularly recruiting staff to conduct our weekly programs. During every recruiting period I find that people who apply for our positions are usually extremely skilled in sport-specific skills, with little or no disability support experience. Sometimes they can be  the complete opposite; highly experienced in working with people with a disability but with limited coaching or sporting experience. Nearly all of our staff (including myself) started with our service in either of these ways.

It is very easy to improve in either sport specific or disability specific training relating to our service. I find the best way to achieve this is to be hands-on. Practical experience is an excellent way to learn new skills.

People should not be discouraged if they are interested in working in any area of the disability sector. I personally find that working with people with disability, in a sport or recreational setting, takes initiative, confidence, patience and a willingness to try new things. I’m sure it is similar in other areas of the sector too, such as day programs and respite services.

If I had a dollar for the amount of times I've been told by other people “they won’t be able to that”, about our participants, I would be a rich man. But by giving something a go, the sense of achievement our participants get, and you get, when they have accomplished a task for the first time or made an improvement, is well worth it.

Not only are there physical benefits for the participants involved, but the social and emotional benefits are immeasurable. I encourage everyone to include people with disability in sport and recreational activities, not only through participating or working for a service like ours, but in all services and organisations throughout the disability sector.