People with intellectual disabilities and/or mental health challenges are still subjected to wide discrimination and the impossibility of proper inclusion in society. Sports is one of the most powerful tools that can support the inclusion process, and in a gentle way present an opportunity for this population to feel accepted and part of a group. Sports, Motivation, Inclusion, Leadership, Engagement – or simply #SMILE – is a project aiming to analyse the link between sports and inclusion in an innovative way, by ensuring international participation in sport activities of persons with intellectual disabilities and/or mental health challenges. #SMILE provides the feeling that EU rights are their rights as well. For example, the right as European citizens of moving and residing freely is reflected in the commitment of the EU “to ensure that persons with disabilities have a real right to freedom of movement as others” has been applied in practice through the international #SMILE sports event that aim to ensure the feeling of moving and residing freelyin participants with disabilities.

The main objectives of the #SMILE initiative are:

* Ensuring quality sports mobility for people with intellectual disabilities;

* Ensuring new instruments and tools for sports experts (trainers, coaches, social workers, etc.) to use sports as a tool for inclusion, socialization and empowerment for people with disabilities;

* Creation of the #SMILE Practical Guide which delineates methods and practices that can be applied in sporting environments when working with people with disabilities /Open Educational Recourse/.

The direct target group of the #SMILE project are people with intellectual disabilities residing in Bulgaria and Croatia through the project consortium of the Bulgarian Sports Development Association and Rijeka Sport Association for Persons with Disabilities. The final beneficiaries of the initiative are both partner organizations that are empowered to further transmit expertise on inclusion, and the people facing multiple challenges in their lives that will experience an amazing journey through sports in the #SMILE framework that allows them to feel like an integral part of the larger European family. 

Through various project activities, #SMILE aims to empower people with intellectual disabilities and/or mental health challenges to:

• Discover the power of sports as an inclusion mechanism through personal experience;
• Co-create, together with #SMILE partners, a good practices toolkit of Inclusion through sports for people with intellectual disabilities and/or mental health challenges;
• Participate in an international #SMILE sporting event;
• Implement local training sessions for people with intellectual disabilities and/or mental health challenges to ensure a snowball effect;
• Ensure good practices are communicated between project partners.

The #SMILE initiative is aligned with the horizontal objectives pursued by the Erasmus+ Programme, that is co-funding the present initiative, aiming to ensure inclusion and diversity in all fields of education, training, youth and sports – as the project idea itself is a representation of the inclusion of a highly disadvantage group into international activities. #SMILE also prioritizes methods for encouraging participation in sports and physical activities, as all the actions that #SMILE implemented are focused on sustainable involvement of people with intellectual disabilities in sports activities on local, national, and international levels.

Good Practices #SMILE Toolkit

During the implementation of the national and international #SMILE activities, research teams used practical testing to document and highlight concrete sports activities that are suitable for inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and that can also be replicated in different environments. Any needed adaptation from the actual sport applied during the national and international activities has been reported as well, together with tips and tricks for sports experts on what to keep in mind. A #SMILE edition is available for practical application in any sports organization in Europe and the world. The Good Practices #SMILE Toolkit reflects multiple sports organizations’ need of concrete, practically tested activities that can be implemented with people with intellectual disabilities.

This handbook is available in an online version (.pdf), available at the project webpage in the English language, and it is also distributed to interested partners on local and international levels. This issue is one of the first editions in the sports sector, based on practical information on inclusion through sports, focused on working with people with intellectual disabilities. Its overall aim is to ensure #BeActive and #HealthyLifestyle4All values are applied, to empower further development of inclusive sports in the European Union.

Download Good Practices #SMILE Toolkit here