Get Yourself Active film project launches

Community Integrated Care are proud to have joined forces with Get Yourself Active at Disability Rights UK, noted filmmakers Rainbow Collective,  social care providers Trafford Choices, and Skills for Care to launch an accessible video series that shows how disabled people can get active in different care environments.

The videos have been specially designed to encourage people with disabilities, organisations and care professionals to better understand the reality of getting active – breaking down barriers and supporting disabled people to be active in the ways they want.

Get Yourself Active’s extensive research has shown that the social care workforce are essential and trusted messengers to those who they support. Ultimately, if they understand more about the importance of physical activity and what is on offer, they will be better placed to help disabled people lead a more active life.

These videos will prove to be a valuable resource by tackling the barriers head-on. By providing social workers, care teams and family members with the knowledge and tools to become agents of change, they can support disabled people to enact their right to get active in the ways that they want.

The videos are freely available on the Get Yourself Active Youtube channel and show:

• The reality of disabled people’s participation in physical activity.
• Disabled people and support and care workers showing examples of how they stay active together and how it benefits them all.
• Disabled people talking about why physical activity is important to them and how they have been supported by their care/support worker.
• Support or care workers talking about how they have supported disabled people to get physically active, opening up and being honest about what has helped, what challenges they may have faced and how they worked through these.

Craig Thomason, Partnership and Communities Manager for Community Integrated Care, said, “Community Integrated Care are passionate about the impact getting active can have on the lives of the people we support. We know that if you have a disability, you are generally twice as likely to be physically inactive – despite a huge percentage of Disabled people wanting to be more active.”

He continued, “We’re extremely proud to be a part of this powerful video project, and alongside our partners believe it shows how high-quality, engaging and impactful active sessions can have a huge effect on the lives of both people accessing and working in social care.”

Laura Horton, Programme Manager at Get Yourself Active, said, “Get Yourself Active is delighted to have worked on this very important film project with the Rainbow Collective, Skills for Care, and organisations from the social care sector. We know that this sector and its workforce are vital facilitators of physical activity for many disabled people. We also know how important it is to challenge misconceptions around disability and physical activity, and these videos go a long way to support that.”

Oonagh Smyth, CEO, Skills for Care, said, “We are proud to have worked with Get Yourself Active to highlight the benefits of physical activity for people with a physical disability, learning disability or autism. This video series will play an important role in supporting care workers in considering physical activity as part of care planning. Hearing from people who have benefited from the activities offered by their local community groups was a wonderful reminder of the difference our social care workers are making in people’s lives, and it’s so important that we continue to make strides forward in making physical activity easily accessible for everyone to enjoy with confidence.”

Visit the Get Yourself Active at home YouTube channel to watch the videos.