26 Nov Inclusive Sport SA Changes Name to Active Inclusion

Today we announce the transition of our organisation from Inclusive Sport SA to Active Inclusion as the overarching business name across our Rapidswim, Behaviour Support SA and Inclusive Sport SA services.

Whilst we continue to take pride in our history and foundation in sport inclusion, this transition comes as we experience an exciting period of organisational expansion through the growth of our Behaviour Support services and Active Inclusion training and consultancy units that makes this transition a necessity.

As we connect with more South Australians, community groups, new industry sectors and beyond we must acknowledge that whilst sport remains important to us, it is no longer the sole focus of our organisation.

The sporting landscape has changed considerably in the past 40 years since our organisation was founded. Increasingly we see a positive shift in the conversation about disability in sport focused on the importance of integration, participation and local community involvement as well as the celebration of our Australian para-athletes on the local, national and global stage.

With this has come an embracing of disability and inclusion programs and initiatives by mainstream sporting clubs, state associations and national bodies. Whilst there is still much work to be done, it is pleasing to witness something we and our founder Marie Little OAM long advocated for to start to come to fruition as sport actively works to remove barriers and provide everyone wanting to participate the opportunity to be part of the sporting community.

Our role as an organisation in the South Australian community has changed. We no longer administer sport programs for people with disability, we connect people to the sporting code experts – community development staff and club volunteers who do. We place emphasis on building this capacity and capability in local sporting clubs through our Active Inclusion training, as well as at all levels of business and across sectors to increase the awareness of what still needs to be done to achieve genuine inclusion in local communities.

We also maintain our ties to sport and recreation through the continuance of the highly successful Rapidswim program which, like may services and businesses, has endured and survived a challenging and uncertain 18 months. Our Aquatic Therapy and Learn to Swim programs continue to offer vital therapy services and important water safety awareness and skills in the community and will continue to do so moving forward.

At the same time as our Active Inclusion training and education arm has grown, so too has our newest business unit Behaviour Support SA. The Positive Behaviour Support service sees continual interest in the local community with our team consequently expanding considerably over the past two years to meet demand. New team members have brought diverse expertise in areas across counselling, teaching, psychology, developmental education and social work and we continue to utilise this knowledge to create new and innovative services we believe will best support the South Australian community.

The transition of our name to Active Inclusion aims to encompass and represent all of our business units, succinctly summarising what we as an organisation believe in and work towards each day, to build an active and inclusive community. It is the next step, a broadening of our support and connection to community, in a continually evolving organisation with the same core values that have endured since our foundation.

Our current services will not change and I want to stress this to our existing participants and their families and caregivers. Services and programs will continue as normal with some minor changes you may notice to our website and social media platforms without direct impact to service provision.

We look forward to sharing the exciting future ahead for our organisation and working alongside business and the community to build a more inclusive society for every South Australian.

John Cranwell

Chief Executive

For more information contact:

Chief Executive John Cranwell – | jcranwell@activeinclusion.com.au