MADRID, 8 Apr. (SportsFinding) –
The former swimmer and current director of Communication of the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE), Luis Leardy, admitted “satisfaction” with the future new Sports Law regarding sports with disabilities, but also made it clear that this is “only a legislative framework” and that the real “progress” in this matter “will come from everyone’s contributions”, and that full integration in sports federations should not be “at any price”.
Leardy appeared this Friday at the Culture and Sports Commission of Congress to talk about this new legislation that comes to replace that of 1990 and that makes significant advances in relation to the practice of sports by people with disabilities.
“The CPE welcomes this processing of the new law with satisfaction and optimism and we ask for a consensus effort so that a good law comes out that represents progress for people with disabilities. We see that there is a clear willingness to reach an agreement,” he celebrated.
“I was a swimmer under the 1990 law and since the 1990s Spain has changed a lot, and sport for people with disabilities even more so. The CPE did not even exist, only a federation for the disabled, mind you, and the opportunities for sports by people with disabilities were non-existent,” he said.
However, the former athlete believes that “reality is now different” and that there are “clearly recognizable figures for society” such as the swimmer Teresa Perales and the triathlete Susana Rodríguez. In addition, the opportunities for people with disabilities to play sports “have multiplied”. “Although there is still a long way to go to reach an ideal situation, it has evolved to a good extent,” he remarked.
For Leardy, it was “necessary to adapt” the Sports Law “in content and in form.” “In the 1990 text there is very little presence of disability and the references that exist are to terms that are clearly out of use and manifestly objectionable,” he warned, claiming before the deputies of the commission that “please finish agreeing to banish of the Constitution the unacceptable term handicapped”.
The man from Madrid was also one of the coordinators of the White Paper on Sport for People with Disabilities in which sport is committed as vital for “inclusion” and as “a right”. “The ultimate goal is the search for equal treatment and opportunities so that any person with a disability can play sports and in the most ideal place. And that today is far from reality,” he lamented.
In this sense, he left some of the “few” data they have in this regard, but which are “remarkable, such as the fact that the rate of sports activity is only “3 percent”, that the number of sports licenses only reaches “0 .32 percent” and that “only less than 20 percent of the facilities have full accessibility”.
“INCLUSION IN THE FEDERATIONS SHOULD NOT BE AT ANY PRICE”
In addition, he recalled that “many materials are different from those that people with disabilities use in their daily lives and require larger spaces” and that “another huge barrier is the cost of these materials for some modalities”, for which he appealed for “seek formulas that mitigate these large outlays”. He also did not forget the “support staff” or the existence of “double discrimination” by
being a woman and having a disability.
The Director of Communication of the CPE also called for “expanding opportunities at the base”, where there is “a great need for improvement”, making it clear that “inclusion in schools and beyond is best done by transforming existing activities into inclusive ones”. “And in the opposite direction too,” he pointed out, clarifying that, on the other hand, at the high level it is “perhaps where there is more progress in terms of comparison with the Olympics.”
In the same way, he indicated that they pursue “inclusion” in all sports federations, but that this should not be “at any price.” “It should not be by decree or rush, that the interests of athletes always prevail above all else,” said the winner of four Paralympic medals.
“This process must be done with great care and tact and with the agreement of the federations, if it cannot be done, let it not be done,” Leardy later responded to a question from the Popular Group on this matter and focusing on people with intellectual disabilities. . “There are some problems, but from their own federation they are making numerous efforts with these federations that they are going to include and there is great collaboration so that it is done carefully and without harming their interests,” she added.
The director of the Communication of the CPE explained that the legislative framework “is broad enough” and demanded that if from the CSD and the Government that there is “a commitment” to this integration, that “the framework be established so that it can be executed by giving it a boost politician”. He also thinks that, although it is an “ultimate goal”, the inclusion of the CPE in the COE is “utopian” and defended the celebration of the Paralympic Games separately because otherwise “it would reduce a lot of visibility”.
Likewise, he sees it as positive that the new law provides for “specific lines of subsidies” by the CSD and that the federations include in their items “a specific budget for their sports modalities for people with disabilities” and made an appeal “to the public powers to promote greater visibility in the media, especially those of public ownership”. For this reason, although they have had “important support, he thought that it was necessary for it to be” more determined “on the part of RTVE.
“STARTING IT UP IS EVERYONE’S TASK”
Leardy considered it “a great achievement” that the new text “marks the promotion of sport for people with disabilities as the second great axis” and that it “sets a definition for inclusive sport”, while it is “a very important step” that the federations should have a commission for people with disabilities, although he did not hide that “the regional federative model is very disparate and gives rise to very complicated situations”.
“This law is a new opportunity and we request the greatest consensus, but we are also clear that it is only a legislative framework and that progress will come from everyone’s contributions to ensure that this important step is an advance in reality and in the day to day.” day of people with disabilities”, stressed the former swimmer, who pointed out that “as a regulatory framework it has made many advances”. “Then it is necessary to comply with it, starting it up is everyone’s task,” he insisted.
Finally, when asked about the good health of the ADOP Program compared to the ADO, he argued that “it has a lot to do with the values and circumstances of athletes” and that “the key and the differentiating element is that companies want to unite their marks athletes with disabilities”.