One of our core values is ‘inclusive’ and we bring this and all our other values to life in our daily work. With this in mind we are working with SAND (Safe Ageing No Discrimination, a local organisation campaigning for LGBT+ Rights in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin) to ensure equality of access to an active lifestyle for older and old lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans people in our county.

We want…

• To increase the level of inclusivity for sport and physical activity in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin.
• To support the physical and mental health of older and old LGBT+ people by helping create more opportunities for them to be active.
• To tackle the inequalities that exist in sport and physical activity by broadening knowledge and the offer of existing providers.

 

How will we do this?

We want to meet local people with lived experience for a better understanding of how we can support older and old LGBT+ people to be more active and what we can do to share this across the wider sport and physical activity sector.

We have signed the SAND covenant to learn about, help provide support, and influence inclusive offerings for older and old LGBT+ people.

 

We are actioning the 5 commitments in the covenant to embrace a culture of inclusion:

1. Commit to providing the best possible quality services for older and old LGBT+ people

We will encourage all groups and organisations we work with and/or fund which support older and old people to have an awareness and understanding of issues facing LGBT+ people.

 

2. Commit to learning what life can be – and has been – like for different LGBT+ people.

We will seek out people with lived experience who can help us understand what we can do to further support LGBT+ people. We will undertake relevant training online, and in person, where possible.

 

3. Commit to vocally and visually supporting groups working with and for older and old LGBT+ people

We will include support for relevant national and local campaigns in our marketing. We will promote good examples of engagement with LGBT+ people in physical activity or sport.

 

4. Commit to creating meaningful opportunities for LGBT+ people and groups to ‘influence’ what you do

We will investigate how best to create meaningful opportunities to enable our work and approaches to our work to be influenced and supported by LGBT+ people and groups.

 

5. Commit to assess and evidence work carried out to engage LGBT+ people (within the group/organisation and outside it)

We will review at least once a year our work to support and champion older and old LGBT+ people.

 

In December, the Energize team took part in a workshop with SAND and heard about the fear and discrimination that exists for older LGBT+ people. Some people can become even more isolated than others when ageing and they’re less likely to lead an active lifestyle as a result.

Visit SAND’s website for more information about their work.

Other organisations which have signed up to SAND's Covenant include the VCSA, Shropshire Council, AgeUK STW, Citizens Advice Shropshire, Cruse Bereavement Services, Shropshire Partners in Care and more.