Making Connections Developing Inclusive Leisure in Policy and Practice

This report documents the experiences of an innovative development project engaging disabled young people in dialogue with those responsible for leisure provision. The project developed out of a previous study by Pippa Murray for the Foundation: Hellol Are you listening?: Disabled teenagers' experience of inclusive leisure (2002). Based on work with disabled young people with a range of impairments in Dudley, Ipswich, Sheffield and Swansea, the report highlights the value of direct communication by young people themselves in bringing about change in policy and practice. It outlines a variety of communication and engagement methods used in the project, through which the disabled young people presented their experiences, and through which dialogues with relevant professionals were made possible. The report also shares the views of those involved on the process and on the nature of social exciusion feit by young disabled people in Britain. The report identifies ways for disabled young people to gain access to leisure facilities and highlights good practice for projects in this field.;It also provides a framework for building bridges of communication between young disabled people and service providers, practitioners and policy-makers.