00:00 When Thomas McAnally tried wheelchair basketball for the first time, he found it a challenge.
00:07 The best is probably bouncing because it's easy and shooting's hard but easy.
00:16 The nine-year-old now participates in an all-abilities program run by Frankston Basketball Association in Victoria,
00:23 which has previously struggled with how to include disabled people in their community.
00:29 We couldn't cater to adults or anybody in a wheelchair or anybody that had a different disability.
00:36 To improve disability participation, the club is taking part in the Building Inclusive Sport Clubs project,
00:43 leading them to develop new versions of the game, including a vision loss and blind basketball program.
00:50 One of the reasons that I joined the course in the first place was to come up with more ideas
00:55 and come up with more programs that we could do to include more people with disabilities.
01:00 Developed by Victoria University and Disability Sports Australia,
01:04 the eight-month-long program is in its third year, featuring 34 clubs from across the country.
01:11 Project manager and Paralympian Elle Steele says the program aims to build the confidence of clubs.
01:18 It's much more about how can we as a collective in our club or in our organisation
01:24 be a place where people with disabilities feel safe and welcome.
01:29 It's also designed to create more employment opportunities for disabled women in the sports sector.
01:35 Nine disabled women facilitate the project, including Miss Steele,
01:40 providing support through workshops and visits.
01:43 You live with a disability, you tend to learn what it means to make things more accessible
01:49 or how to talk about accessibility or disability just because it's your life,
01:53 and they can share their kind of shared knowledge.
01:57 It isn't just mainstream clubs that need support.
02:02 World Blind Golf is an organisation created by and for golfers with low or no vision.
02:08 Yeah, the face is good.
02:10 It's designed to work closely with golf clubs around Queensland
02:14 to open up opportunities for blind participants, as well as attract new players to the sport.
02:21 Oh, wow!
02:23 We're trying to make it easy for anyone that has any type of visual impairment,
02:27 whether they're blind or have any type of visual issue, to go to a golf course,
02:32 join with a bunch of mates and enjoy golf.
02:36 World Blind Golf is helping them achieve these objectives,
02:40 including working with professional golfers to give them the experience of teaching disabled people.
02:47 And the pro here at Brisbane Golf Club, he teaches one of our blind golfers on a weekly basis
02:53 and learning to adapt even his coaching style to her needs.
02:58 If we can make everything inclusive now, then it's much more likely that it will not only change our lives,
03:04 but the lives of other people.
03:06 Making inclusion central to all sport.
03:09 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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