Disability first and foremost: facilitators of sport organisation change

This research explores disability, gender, and leadership identities of a cohort of sport disability inclusion facilitators and the salience of identities in their interactions with program participants and community sport managers. Employed in the Building Inclusive Sports Clubs Program, the women were provided training in facilitation and leadership and assumed a relational leadership approach to support the activation of their inclusion and diversity work with sport organisations. Interview analysis identified that disability and leadership identities were embraced, and notably gender was not identified as an identity construct, they explicitly drew upon in this context. The program’s community of practice sessions supported and developed the facilitators’ leadership capabilities and reinforced the importance of relational leadership to move between frames, position oneself, and resonate with others. These movements resonated with the facilitators in ways that enabled them to create new dialogues around inclusion and further develop their identities as leaders of change.