A top deaf footballer from Kent has expressed concern over the national team attending a major tournament due to funding worries. Emma Brown, from Faversham, said Team GB have two weeks to raise £40,000 to attend the Winter Deaflympics. Sport England has committed £1.2m in funding for deaf athletes, but cash is only available for grass roots. "If we don't raise the funds, we won't be able to go, which isn't fair," Miss Brown said.
The 31-year-old will represent Team GB at futsal - and it will be the first time the sport has featured at the tournament. Futsal is an indoor version of football played with five players and a smaller ball. Miss Brown, who won a bronze medal at last year's futsal World Championships in Brazil, said athletes should not have the "additional burden of fundraising" while training or working other jobs.
"It's always barriers, barriers. We keep fighting and fighting. We feel like we don't even exist," said Ms Brown, who is the team captain. Deaf athletes cannot compete in the Paralympics unless they have another impairment that entitles them to do so. As such, funding for the Deaflympics remains separate from the Olympics and Paralympics, where Team GB funding comes from UK Sport.
ATR COMMENT:
The debates continue regarding deaf participations in sport. Deaflympics is at the root of many issues, and it's probably a mistake by Sport England, to sponsor participation in a stand-alone set up like the Deaflympics. There is a disparity, between deaf athletes of all descriptions who want inclusion and access to major UK sporting events, training, and the main Olympics, and those who just want to compete against other deaf people.
Whatever funding they do get is inadequate to compete properly, either in their 'own' Olympics or the *3 others. A few years ago wholesale rows were seen in New Zealand/Australia of various deaf areas at the Deaflympics, were demanding unacceptable eligibilities to compete in the Deaflympics, e.g. they should exclude those who 'were not deaf enough, or didn't sign, wore hearing aids, or were not deaf community members..' Mostly this was down to a USA organiser of the Deaflympics on a 'cultural crusade' of some kind, and attempting to prevent deaf participation except for the few.
In reality, Hard of Hearing do compete in some major sports already, including the Olympics itself, these competitors the Americans said, should not participate in a 'Deaflympics'. As regards to UK sport funding, this was primarily aimed at assisting inclusion and training deaf didn't have access to, it was used to fund various deaf sports to own Olympics instead. It is incorrect to state the Paralympians barred the deaf, in fact the Deaf areas refused to include themselves because they wanted a stand alone set up and didn't feel disability applied to them.
Basically, it is down to deaf sporting areas to make up their mind what they want, and, deaf athletes too. If they want to compete properly AS athletes, then the Deaflympics is not going to offer them the competitiveness they need to challenge mainstream sports participants. Deaf sports here is an afterthought and barely funded at all, it goes via deaf clubs mainly, who don't possess the sporting wherewithal to advance deaf aspiration. Any deaf athlete who wants to be the best, has to take on all comers, and to qualify, gain the stats/times they need to be included, it has nil to do with deafness, but getting the right training, and entering the right races/games etc.
Otherwise the Deaflympics is just another 'social festival' for deaf to attend, and where times and results are meaningless to the mainstream qualifications. I feel sure, most who participate don't want to win in areas that aren't recognised as really competitive anywhere else. With a diminishing population of deaf in the UK, it is imperative they campaign to to get included in mainstream areas, just as many are now in schools etc. The Olympics itself offers no barriers re communications, so there is scant evidence signers are excluded on that basis.
It would perhaps be unfair to suggest, as one sports pundit did, that 'The Deaflympics, is school sports with beer...' It is ultimately impracticable for UK sport to support a stand-alone sporting event for every other culture or disablement, as the answer to exclusion from mainstream. That is accepting discrimination and exclusion.
* The Olympics, the Paralympics, and the 'Special' Olympics.
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