16/03/2018

Round table on the challenges of the sports activity of people with disabilities

On March 16, 2018, at the hotel “Continental“ in Skopje, a thematic meeting was held, ie a round table on the topic "Identifying the problems faced by young people with disabilities in their involvement in the exercise and sports process as a prerequisite for a healthy life and proposed solutions to overcome them." The event was organized by the National Federation for Sports and Recreation of Disability of Macedonia - Macedonian Paralympic Committee, which started the implementation of the project "Change Your Mindset-Sport4Everyone" from the beginning of last 2017, which is being implemented within the Erasmus + sports program. Project sponsor is the Zagreb Sports Union of Persons with Disabilities, while project partners are the Paralympics Committee of Slovenia, the Paralympic Committee of Serbia, the Paralympic Committee of Montenegro, the Pingpongers Union of Austria, the Pingpongers Union of Italy, the Organization for the Promotion of Civil Society ECHO - Zagreb and the Paralympic Committee of Macedonia. The aim of the project is promotion and raising of the level of public awareness about the importance of sport and physical exercise, and integration into the society of young people with disabilities (aged 15-29 years) in recreational sports activities. Members of "Mobility Bitola" actively took part at the event, among which the president Dr. Niko Jankov and the members of the Board - Lidija Veljanovska, Sotir Jonovski and Vasko Stefanovski. The proposals and remarks of our members were taken into account for further consideration. Namely, it was suggested that we use the data from the basis of the categorization commissions from the earliest age, before the limit of 15 to 29 years, and especially emphasized the need for a change in the attitude of the persons conducting the educational process, that is, to prevent stereotyping to people with disabilities that they are incapable of any physical activity. All this will be discussed at the next conference scheduled for March 27, which will be attended by representatives of the decision-making institutions. All in all, we believe that this project is of great importance for all members of "Mobility Macedonia" and we hope that the government representatives will have the ears and readiness to start the process of introducing and maintaining the necessary measures.