Panellists spoke about going beyond basic needs and promoting \u201ca good life\u201d during a talk on disability in the outdoors, as part of this year\u2019s Sheffield Adventure Film Festival (SHAFF). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The panel hosted Clare Millington, a mother of twins with learning disabilities, who highlighted the issue of \u201clow expectations\u201d, and included a conversation on how disabled people are represented within the adventure film genre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Churcher, another speaker, talked about his climbing experience and said: \u201cSometimes, people\u2019s attitudes haven\u2019t been the best, so we just try and educate them that blind people can do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A range of viewpoints on the current state of accessibility for disabled people seeking to access the outdoors were shared, with topics like the right-to-roam campaign and the government\u2019s proposal to limit disability support coming under discussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anisah Barber, a disability rights campaigner and director of the Adaptive Riders Collective, spoke about her isolation from the outdoors community when she encountered frustration from \u201cpeople who look at me and go \u2018well, you look fine, so why are you struggling to do this\u2019”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also drew attention to the additional cost of disability and said: \u201cSpecialised kit is even more expensive, brands are perhaps only providing it to well-known people\u2026as much as people might say that the outdoors is free, it\u2019s not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SHAFF 2025\u2019s co-director and the panel\u2019s chair, Frit Tam, later spoke with Sheffield Wire <\/em>and reflected on the hundreds of film submissions sent in for consideration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He said: “There\u2019s not nearly enough films about disabled athletes. We\u2019re still really, I think, in such early days of that, but also, somewhat frustratingly, it\u2019s 2025 and we shouldn\u2019t be in the early days of that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a point brought home by Mr Churcher\u2019s sight guide, Lauren Bean, who challenged herself to provide audio descriptions of movies after having to read out “90 minutes\u2019 worth of subtitles”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said: “I thought it must be lengthy, difficult and expensive because nobody’s doing it, and I was just completely taken aback by how easy it was, and I think it just really annoyed me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it should be acceptable that films featuring a blind person are not audio described\u2026because if you\u2019re making a film about blind people, who are you trying to inspire? Because it\u2019s not other blind people, if it\u2019s not accessible to them. It\u2019s just not right.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Tam said: \u201cFilms create an opportunity to spend time with somebody, or somebody\u2019s story, for an extended period of time in which you can then learn more about someone\u2019s journey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the weekend-long event, a series of film strands were screened, including a new \u2018Reconnection\u2019 segment that intended to showcase community-centred movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Set in a deprived district of South Dallas in the US, Danny Schmidt and Lindsey Hagen\u2019s 4DWN<\/em> \u2013 one of the films shown as part of \u2018Reconnection\u2019 \u2013 focuses on the pastoral role that a skatepark-turned-urban-farm is playing in parts of the city where the state has, in effect, retreated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The crisis of food insecurity and a lack of social infrastructure intertwine, from the viewpoint of a young African-American boy who takes hold of the fragile joy to be found in latter-day skate culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although adventure film remains dominated by the US and UK markets, Mr Tam said: \u201cHere at SHAFF, we want to try and utilise film as a vehicle for sharing messages that we\u2019re passionate about, that other filmmakers are passionate about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think film will continue to have a really strong role to play in continuing to contribute to change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next year, SHAFF celebrates its 20th<\/sup> anniversary and, according to Mr Tam, preparations are already underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The festival\u2019s founder, Matt Heason, has promised a sauna and ice bath at the ready outside the Showroom in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Sheffield Adventure Film Festival is turning its gaze towards greater representation of disabled athletes and the difficulties faced by marginalised groups accessing the great outdoors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":72413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2079,9],"class_list":["post-72362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-shaff","tag-sheffield"],"yoast_head":"\n