Ability Sports Africa empowers 2,000 children with disabilities through sport

Ability Sports Africa (ASA), a grassroots sports-for-development organization based in Gulu City, has empowered over 2,000 children and youth with disabilities with fundamental sports skills.

Founded in 2019, ASA has skilled 2,160 children, trained 190 coaches, and reached over 1,340 children through grassroots football programmes.

Brian Byaruhanga, the Programmes Manager, said the initiative is aimed at enabling children and youth with disabilities to take the lead, develop leadership skills, and build confidence.

"We are equipping young people with disabilities through physical literacy so they can lead and include peers without disabilities in sports," Byaruhanga told Vision Sport.

He said ASA uses a Reverse Inclusion model where persons with disabilities learn a sport first, gain confidence and skills, and then invite those without disabilities to join them.

According to Byaruhanga, ASA is also implementing a three-year project, "Leveling the Playing Field", with Light for the World, funded by the adidas Foundation. The project supports weekly inclusive sports in schools, physiotherapy sessions, parents' support groups, and vocational training for youth with disabilities.

Musema Faruk, the founder of ASA, said the organization was born out of his experience growing up in Northern Uganda during the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency.

"I saw how the war affected everyone, but persons with disabilities suffered in silence. Sports gave me hope and purpose. I wanted to create a space where everyone could experience that same transformation," Faruk said.

Musema witnessed how conflict strips communities of opportunity and how those with disabilities are often left furthest behind.

Musema, however, observed that stigma remains one of the major barriers, with many families still hiding children with disabilities.

"Parents hide their children away. Their numbers are not well documented, which increases their exclusion," he said.

ASA recently profiled over 1,000 potential participants in Gulu City and District but says this is only the tip of the iceberg.

ASA is an implementing partner of the Uganda Paralympic Committee and has led Northern Uganda to three consecutive best community team finishes at the National Disability Gala.

He noted that equipment remains a major challenge. Sports wheelchairs, goalball kits, boccia balls, and blind football eye shades are prohibitively expensive, and some are not locally available, forcing ASA to improvise with locally available materials.

Despite funding and transport challenges, ASA aims to be present in every district of Uganda to support persons with and without disabilities, including soldiers injured in war, to find new purpose through sport.