{"id":33696,"date":"2021-05-04T16:10:45","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T15:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sheffieldwire.co.uk\/?p=33696"},"modified":"2021-05-04T16:10:45","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T15:10:45","slug":"disability-groups-welcome-government-u-turn-allowing-vulnerable-groups-to-attend-test-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/05\/04\/disability-groups-welcome-government-u-turn-allowing-vulnerable-groups-to-attend-test-events\/","title":{"rendered":"Disability groups welcome government U-turn allowing &#8216;vulnerable&#8217; groups to attend test events"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Disability rights groups have welcomed the government\u2019s U-turn on allowing \u201cclinically extremely vulnerable\u201d people to attend test events such as the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Initially, those in the \u201cclinically extremely vulnerable\u201d category were prohibited from attending test events under the government\u2019s Events Research Programme (ERP).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The ERP is studying the risk of Covid-19 transmission at nine large-scale public events across the U.K., including last week\u2019s full-capacity club night in Liverpool and the FA Cup semi-finals as well as the snooker championships held at the Crucible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Campaign groups such as Level Playing Field, a charity that seeks to extend disabled people\u2019s access to sporting events, were outraged by the original plans to exclude those with disabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The group noticed a warning on the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) website earlier this month saying fans were told by email: \u201cUnfortunately, it is not possible for us to allow you to attend this event if you are classed as clinically extremely vulnerable, pregnant or living with somebody who falls within these categories.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">That led to the organisation writing an open letter condemning the WPBSA and the ERP for \u201can attack on freedom of choice and human rights.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Chair of Level Playing Field Tony Taylor said \u201cSadly, from what we have seen so far, The World Snooker Championship has decided to take away that freedom to people they deem as \u2018vulnerable\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cThey have taken away the free will of a person to decide if an event is safe for them or not. This should always be a personal choice and not one that openly discriminates against vulnerable people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Following pressure from a number of charities, the government was forced into a U-turn that would allow those classed as clinically extremely vulnerable to attend test events.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">That meant those in the clinically extremely vulnerable category were able to attend last night\u2019s World Snooker Championship final between Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Level Playing Field said: \u201cThe policy change will no longer exclude CEV people from attending government test events and, in its place, will empower CEV fans to make their own decisions and risk assessments, which they have done throughout this pandemic and life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cThis decision is the correct one, and this exclusion should never have been in place at the start.\u00a0Having the right to choose how you live your life is a fundamental human right.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cThe original government guidance had the potential to set live sport on a dangerous path of exclusion and discrimination.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disability rights groups have welcomed the government\u2019s U-turn on allowing \u201cclinically extremely vulnerable\u201d people to attend test events such as the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield. Initially, those in the \u201cclinically extremely vulnerable\u201d category were prohibited from attending test events under the government\u2019s Events Research Programme (ERP). The ERP is studying the risk of Covid-19 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":33186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[521,522],"class_list":["post-33696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-disability","tag-snooker"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Disability groups welcome government U-turn allowing &#039;vulnerable&#039; groups to attend test events - Sheffield Wire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/05\/04\/disability-groups-welcome-government-u-turn-allowing-vulnerable-groups-to-attend-test-events\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disability groups welcome government U-turn allowing &#039;vulnerable&#039; groups to attend test events - Sheffield Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Disability rights groups have welcomed the government\u2019s U-turn on allowing \u201cclinically extremely vulnerable\u201d people to attend test events such as the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield. 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