In Alto Sangro, a mountain area, fully accessible sporting opportunities remain limited. The local association already runs blind football, school-based educational activities, awareness events and initiatives for young people, families and the wider community from its pitch.
Without accessible stands, people with motor disabilities cannot watch matches safely, alongside everyone else, and their family members and caregivers end up left out too. Without proper benches, athletes, guides, coaches and staff lose out on basic comfort, protection and organisation. The gap is about removing cultural barriers, so young people with and without disabilities can genuinely play, meet and belong in the same space.
The project
The project turns the pitch into a stable space of participation, encounter and belonging, where accessibility covers everyone, not just the athletes on the field but everyone watching from the sidelines. It installs an accessible stand with integrated spaces for wheelchair users and their companions, along with protected, functional benches for teams, guides, coaches and staff, supporting an ongoing annual programme of blind football, mixed sport, adapted motor activities, school workshops and staff training.
Young people with and without disabilities take part in these activities side by side, moving past a purely assistance-based approach to become genuine protagonists of their own sporting experience. The area is secured through an eight-year free loan agreement, with Sport Ability managing it on an ongoing basis alongside families, schools and local sports organisations.
Who the project is for
In its first year, the project's direct beneficiaries number 70 people: 20 already-identified blind and visually impaired B1 athletes, at least 30 young people with other disabilities and their non-disabled peers taking part in mixed activities and workshops, and 20 coaches, educators and volunteers receiving training.
Its impact reaches further, to an estimated 250 people, including family members, caregivers, students, teachers, spectators, local associations and the wider community, with the new stands and benches remaining available in the years that follow.
Project name: Vedere Oltre – Tribune accessibili, panchine e sport che unisce
Proposing organisation: Asd Aps Sport Ability Roccaraso
Area of intervention: Inclusion & Social Development
Country: Italy