People With Learning Disabilities Given Help to Get Active And Boost Confidence

29 Jan 2019 12:00 PM

New Mencap project encourages participants to turn exercise into miles and journey round the world.


More than 4,000 people with learning disabilities are being invited to take on a new Round the World Challenge as we invest £1 million over three years with Mencap.

A total of 27 participation hubs will be set up across England with the aim of inspiring and assisting people with learning disabilities to get active in a fun, flexible and empowering way.

People taking on a variety of activities, including Zumba, boccia and walking rugby – as well as more traditional sports – will register their time spent exercising each week, with that figure being converted into miles.

Anyone completing 100 hours of exercise will have completed their round-the-world trip, with landmarks along the way including 20 hours for crossing the UK and 40 for Europe – with participants receiving ‘postcards’ to recognise their achievement in reaching significant landmarks along their journey.

Pilots schemes have already shown the programmer to be a success with Vijay Patel turning a 30-minute lunchtime run into the confidence he needed to get a job.

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