Disability Sports Australia and UniSport Australia announce national partnership

Disability Sports Australia and UniSport Australia have announced a national partnership to focus on improving development pathways for adaptive sport in the university sport sector.

The two organisations will collaborate to develop disability and adaptive sport opportunities within universities. This will occur through facilitating pilot programs and shared research. Results from this will build university sporting clubs' capacity to be more inclusive.

Underpinning this collaboration are similar ambitions. Both organisations will engage, advocate, and consult with respective members to ensure shared positive outcomes.

In December last year, Disability Sports Australia (DSA) launched the Accessibility Champion Course. This is a free online course that helps sporting environments become more accessible. This partnership will look to engage university sporting clubs to complete this course.

UniSport Australia (UniSport) is the peak body for university sport in Australia. UniSport's member population represents of over one million students nationwide. UniSport’s ambition is to become an integral partner to Australian universities and to deliver outstanding student experiences at their national intervarsity competition.

The UniSport Nationals is UniSport's flagship event. UniSport's 42 member organisations compete head-to-head across 32 sports. Both organisations desire for this competition to have increased visibility for disability sports and pathways.

UniSport Chief Executive Mark Sinderberry shares “our partnership with DSA expands UniSport’s commitment to inclusion and the value of participation and engagement in sport on students’ health and wellbeing.”

DSA is a not-for-profit organisation and is one of Australia’s nine National Sporting Organisations for people with disabilities (NSODs), all who share a purpose to improve the lives of Australians living with a disability using sport as the medium.

DSA Executive Chair Dr Phil Hamdorf is delighted about this partnership and notes “we recognise and understand that there is a gap in the participation pathway for people with disabilities when they begin engaging in the tertiary sector.

“We look forward to collaborating with UniSport Australia to better understand these gaps, and work together to build the capacity of the university sporting sector to be more inclusive and create more participation opportunities.”