Dance classes for everyone

Sport brings people together – its potential to facilitate inclusion and integration is huge. One good example is the International Gymnastics and Dance Club in Frankfurt (ITTV) It offers dance classes for everyone so that children with physical and mental disabilities also have the chance to take part in sports. 95 children aged between 18 months and twelve years are currently enrolled, including ten with a disability. 

Inclusion ensured by team of fully trained instructors 

Stephanie Diefenhardt explains how important it is to make sport available in this way. She works as an integration officer at a school in Frankfurt that specialises in teaching children with disabilities; in her spare time, she also volunteers as an integration and inclusion officer at the ITTV. “We want to enable every child to take part in our courses, as exercise and participation are super important. To this end, we have a wonderful team of dance instructors and trained sports assistants who provide the children with the individual support they need during training.” The ITTV’s team of instructors regularly attend conferences and continuing education events in integration and inclusion so that they can respond appropriately to the needs of children with disabilities. They discuss with the parents how best to involve the children in the classes. 

Raising children’s awareness about inclusion and integration 

“Everyone is welcome at our club - we have children from 32 different countries, and ten children with disabilities. These include children on the autism spectrum, as well as those with Down’s syndrome, social or emotional developmental disorders or physical disabilities, e.g. wheelchair users.” To be able to work successfully with the children, it is important to ensure that all members of the dance groups are properly informed and educated about each other’s needs. The idea is to raise the awareness of all the children about inclusion and integration so that they can learn how to support those with disabilities.  

Barrier freedom at all levels 

As well as promoting inclusion awareness within the groups, the club also ensures barrier-free access at the centre. There are large disabled parking spaces to make it easier to load and unload wheelchairs, a disabled toilet and barrier-free entrance doors so that everyone can move freely around the premises. The club also plans to translate its website into Easy Read, as barrier freedom begins with an easily accessible online presence. The ITTV thus takes steps at all levels to ensure that everyone has equal access to club life.