[b] Hi everyone

For a while now the time that Richard and I have had for the voluntary work that we do has been under a lot of time constraints.

As you know a lot of our time recently has been tied up with Wheelchair Rugby League, a Sport which we adopted almost about 3 years ago now. I'm pleased ton be able to say now that a lot of great people have got involved with the game including the all important RFL Performance and Community Departments.

What that means in short is that I feel I can now divert the energy I need to the RLDSA, the RLDSA is a huge part of my history and my life, Richards as well, and I feel its time to start revamping the RLDSA, update the Forum here and see if we can aske the great admins of RL Fans if we can start to use the website that is attached to the forum.

We have so many great people involved in the RLDSA now, Steph and Hull, Maureen at Leeds, me at Bradford, Barbara the RLDSA New Zealand Representative and Lee the Vice Chair over at Hull KR to name a few but we have more Disabled Supporters Groups developing than at any time..........what this all comes down to is that we need is some suggestions as to how we bring things up to date here, how do we get the website back online and working, what issues still need addressing????

Lets use this thread to do some 'blue sky thinking' [b]




I'll start in off with somethings I'm interested in hearing other opinions on,

1. Many Clubs organise away travel for their fans which help a lot when you visit a ground where there is very little parking. Looking at the Transport section of the DDA should they be looking at coaches with a lift to be able to offer that same service??????? Its a tricky one that when you think about it.

2. Should all RL stewards receive disability awareness training included in thier standard training.
Do we think things are okay as they are which is relying on individual interpretation and personal knowlege. On the other hand are we not members of the public and should stewards be given the training they need to deal with disabled people confidently and equally like everyone else.

These are just a couple of things worth discussing so lets get threads going and liven up this forum.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, no I've not had too much Coffee, I just feel motivated

I'm also going to start a poll about language, lets see what happens with that.

Hi All,

I'm sure I will be able to think of a few things which I will come back to and post on here periodically, but for now:-

The bus scenario is a tricky one. Without blowing ones trumpet (as if) Hull FC have a very good away following with quite a few disabled, so would we need more than one mini bus or would it have to be a coach, no disrespect but maybe Quins, Salford, Hudds would only need a minibus.

At the KC Stadium I think its only the stewards (or at least certain ones) manning the disabled viewing areas have training, again its down to crowd size, Hull FC, Leeds, Saints etc would have far more stewards to train due to the size of the crowds. At the end of the day it comes down to monies to train over and above the requirement.

At our disabled meetings parking problems and stewards attitudes come up time and time again. We are lucky at Hull with us having the most up to date stadium in the league, we still have our problems mind you, but not usually about the facilities at the stadium.

If I can think of anything else I will post as soon as I think of it or else it will be lost forever

Hi,

Have been a member of RL fans for ages, but due to my club allegiance (Saints), I have been spending my time to another forum for years now, and have come back to see something that was posted there about something that is on this site.

Anyway, getting to the point, I have only just become aware of RLDSA, and being disabled myself, this is obviously of interest.

I am unaware of my clubs travel arrangements for disabled supporters, if they even have any, as I make my own arrangements for getting to games.

But in relation to point 2 of the original post on this thread, YES I do think that all RL stewards should receive disability awareness training included in thier standard training. I am not entirely dependant upon a wheelchair for mobility (more so since my knee replacement 12 months ago), but do use sticks/canes, and I feel that due to my age (39) I am singled out by stewards at certain grounds, ie. I am sick of being asked wether I intend to use my cane as a weapon!?!?!?

Now, I am pretty thick skinned and this is usually water off a ducks back, but to have the same stewards asking the same, or similar question year after year is starting to get to me. So, whilst I appreciate that they have a duty of care to protect all match goers, yes it would be nice to know that ALL stewards were undergoing some formal disability awareness training.

I'm in total support of shaking up the RLDSA and although I'm now miles away I'll do whatever I can. By the way Gill - love the title you gave me !! lol

Such a lot has already been achieved & since I first spotted Gill's post on here all those years ago asking if there were others out here who wanted to improve provision it's full credit to Gill & Ricky for what they've driven.

Travel???????? I wish a bus was all we needed to gets to games nowadays but if there are enough from a club then it's worth pooling together. I know some Bradford fans tried this for a Leeds game a while back but I always found it better to make our own way as me laddo & I were very independent spirits & for the longer trips often made a weekend of it.

Natamy

As far as I'm aware no one has taken this on @ saints since I departed those shores! I always tried to be discrete but found Bob helpful & although things didn't happen overnight he did pass on some of our issues and some were dealt with well. A perfect time to get involved now with the new stadium on the horizon too!