Disabled Women in Coaching, Officiating & Leadership

The pathway

Inclusion should not stop at being allowed to play. A visible route should exist from participation into volunteering, officiating, coaching, qualifications, employment and leadership where the person wants it.

Check the next barrier

• Are training venues accessible?
• Are course materials available in accessible formats?
• Can someone request adjustments during assessment?
• Do travel, unpaid-role expectations or inaccessible meeting formats exclude people?
• Are disabled women represented in decision-making rather than only invited to tell their story?

Avoid tokenism

Do not appoint one disabled woman and treat her as the spokesperson for every disability. Lived experience is valuable, but representation also means authority, development, remuneration where appropriate, and a genuine role in decisions.

Do not cap ambition

A player may want to become a referee, coach, organiser, board member or paid sport professional. The conversation should be about the route and barriers, not whether disability makes that ambition surprising.

Evidence boundary

Activity Alliance’s 2025–26 survey reports that disabled people are less likely to feel they belong in sport/activity settings and less likely to see people like themselves volunteering, coaching or working in the sector. This supports examining representation and pathways, but it does not tell us the exact experience of disabled women in cue sports or darts. That remains an evidence gap for future research.