The first conference on Inclusive Sport was held this Wednesday, November 18, with the attendance of nearly 200 participants.
The conference was initiated by Granés Fundació with the aim of advancing knowledge on inclusive sport and promoting dialogue among various expert stakeholders within the disability sport sector, with the goal of creating a workspace that generates knowledge on full inclusion in sport and facilitating the dissemination of this knowledge to sports clubs and social entities. The Conference included an initial expert focus group and a subsequent dialogue open to the interested public, who followed it online.
As the various speakers commented, inclusive sport is a social challenge, and it is essential that people with disabilities participate in it. Ingrid Lafuente, manager of the Catalan Sports Federation for Cerebral Palsy (FECPC), added that networking among entities, federations, and clubs is necessary to achieve a global mindset shift.
On the other hand, Jordi Morales explained his experience as an elite Table Tennis athlete and emphasized the value of inclusive sport. He believes that inclusion is “taking a blank sheet of paper and seeing what’s there to build what we want,” in this case, inclusive sport.
Josep Oriol, a doctor specializing in Paralympic sport and a professor specializing in inclusive sport at Ramon Llull University – Blanquerna, highlighted the work that universities have to do, stating, “we must continue working and educating to achieve inclusive sport.”
Regarding public administrations, Ramon Lamiel, manager of the Institute for Disability of the Barcelona City Council, emphasized that they have an obligation to find formulas to achieve inclusive sport.
Finally, Xavier Gonzàlez, CEO of the International Paralympic Committee between 2004 and 2019, believes that “inclusive sport is one that provides equal opportunities for all, whether they want to develop it, access it, or participate in it.”
The 1st Conference on Inclusive Sport is the first action in a series of dialogues through which Granés Fundació aims to generate rigorous knowledge that will allow progress in achieving this right, included in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and signed by the Spanish State in 2007.
“We must aspire to and promote the necessary changes so that inclusion goes beyond the school setting and that children, young people, and also adults, can decide which sport they want to practice, in an inclusive environment,” stated Laura Masferrer, managing director of Granés Fundació. “When it comes to playing sports, engaging in cultural or artistic activities, or leisure, for example, people with disabilities still encounter many barriers,” says Masferrer, who highlights that Spain is one of the states furthest from aligning its legislation with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 2006.
Experts who participated in the open dialogue
- Laura Masferrer / Presentation
Managing Director of Granés Fundació. Holds a degree in History. Director/manager in social entities since 2003, working on transformation processes for the social inclusion of people with disabilities, families, children, and young people. Within various fields such as sport, research, entrepreneurship, education, housing, or the community sector. - Joan Vehils / moderator
Sports journalist with extensive experience in sports press and television. Director of the newspaper Sport since 2007, director of El Periodico de Catalunya (2003-2007), director of RadioSport (2000-2005), among others. - Xavier González
CEO of the International Paralympic Committee 2004-2019. Currently working as a consultant. He began his professional career at the International Olympic Committee in 2002 as liaison director for the Paralympic Games and became Director General of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 2004. Previously, he held management positions in the organizing committees of the Paralympic Games in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, and was Director General of the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Paralympic Games. - Enric Blesa
General Director of Special Olympics Spain, recognized for his great work as the best professional sports leader in 2016 by the Catalan Association of Sports Leaders. - Ramon Lamiel
Manager of the Municipal Institute for Persons with Disabilities of the Barcelona City Council since 2013. A committed individual with strong ties to the social sector. Since the start of his career, he has held various management positions at the Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona City Council.
Participants in the Focus Group held internally before the dialogue
- Laura Masferrer / Presentation
Managing Director of Granés Fundació - Maria Pallisera / moderator
Professor at the Department of Pedagogy at the University of Girona and coordinator of the Diversity Research Group. Collaborative and inclusive research with people with intellectual disabilities on topics related to their rights (independent living, education, participation, and inclusion). - Xavier González
CEO of the International Paralympic Committee 2004-2019. - Enric Blesa
Director of the Spanish Special Olympics Committee. - Ramon Lamiel
Manager of the Institute for Disability of the Barcelona City Council. - Jordi Morales
Elite Table Tennis athlete with a long career that led him to win bronze and silver medals at the Paralympic Games in Athens ’04 and London ’12. World Champion in 2010, 2014, and 2018. In 2018, he was awarded as the best Paralympic table tennis athlete of the year by the ITTF Awards. - Ingrid Lafuente
Manager of the Catalan Sports Federation for Cerebral Palsy (FECPC) since 1998 and trainer and project manager at the entity to promote social inclusion through sport. Associate Professor at UB – Faculty of Education, specializing in Inclusive Physical Education and Adapted Physical Activity and Sport, and advisor on various local, regional, and national projects related to integration and inclusion in federated sport. - Josep Oriol Martínez
Doctor specializing in Paralympic sport, involved in the Barcelona ’92, Beijing ‘08, Vancouver ‘10, London ‘12, and Sochi 2014 Games as Chief Medical Officer, member of the Anti-Doping Committee, and president of the Medical Committee of the International Paralympic Committee until 2014. Professor specializing in inclusive sport at Ramon Llull University – Blanquerna since 2001 and president of the Scientific Committee of the “International Conference on Adapted Sport”, in its three editions CIDA 03, CIDA 07, and CIDA 2011.
Granés Fundació
Granés Fundació is an entity that was created in 2017; the entity works and participates in projects aimed at the care and inclusion of people with disabilities, as well as in training and research for young people with the aim that each can achieve their own life project.
