The CTC and Inclusion
Posted: 1 Feb 2010, 9:16am
Line all the CTC members up in a row. What do we see? Black and Asian people are in short supply. Women are under-represented. We’re getting on in years.
We’d all agree that the CTC isn’t representative, by ethnic origin, gender or age of the wider cycling family – and less representative still of the population of the United Kingdom. This is regrettable. There’s a whole bunch of people out there that we’re not reaching. We need, as Professor Cox wrote in his article promoting the Special Resolution, to be more inclusive. In this respect Professor Cox and I are as one.
The CTC Council ‘buys in’ expertise. A consultant, who just happened to be blind, attended the 23rd January Council meeting and sought to bring Councillors up to date with the latest legislation and the expectations that Government has of organisations such as the CTC Trust that are in receipt of public money. This is an annual event, and very worthwhile. Except.......the response from Councillors was mixed. Some, like Jim Brown, know this field through and through, and fully accept that we could do better. On the other hand another councillor sought reassurance that member groups in his part of the world had no role to play – if I recall correctly his words were ‘so we don’t have to do anything’
The Chair takes the view that inclusion is something our Cycling Development Officers are reaching out and making the CTC more inclusive. He couldn’t be more wrong. You cannot be inclusive by way of a contract. Inclusive is who you are, not what you happen to be doing for money this week. And when the contracts expire, we’ll be the same old CTC.
The CTC is the government’s chosen partner in the effort to bring cycling to people with disability. This is an entirely laudable programme. The CTC is supremely well suited to this work, but in a way that the Chair might not readily bring to mind. I advance in evidence the Midweek Wayfarers, a sprightly bunch ranging in age from late 50s to early 90s. When it comes to impairment, they could tell us all a thing or two – the infirmities of age are not so much kept at bay, but immersed in the cool waters of cycling. Allowances and reasonable adjustments are made. That’s what Club members do, help each other along a bit. It’s so natural that it makes you wonder why the DDA ever needed to be written. But, being a natural thing it sometimes doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.
So, when a rider on the Cheam and Morden Friday Night Ride to the Coast told us that he was registered blind, and asked if we could enquire about his 3rd party cover this all came as a bit of a surprise to National Office and some members of Council. It turned out that he’d been riding with his DA for years, but that they had thought better of mentioning it to anyone – and, given the initial advice received from National Office that not only was he not covered, but that he should not be allowed on DA rides, you can see their point of view. Correspondence, some 23 pages of it, ensued, and, as you know, the underwriters have now agreed that disability is no bar to insurance cover or participation in group rides – so all is well that ends well. Except that this should have been the beginning.......
Up and down the country local groups have found different recipes for inclusion. Nationally we’re more male than we should be – but Stourbug, a CTC affiliate in Stourbridge draws 70 or more riders to their club runs – and over three quarters are women. Nationally we’re older than we should be, but the average age on the FNRttC is 35 – and the percentage of women is rising. The trouble is we’re not drawing all this together. All of this good inclusion stuff is happening in isolation. The point, made at the time of the Blind Rider Debacle, was that as a national organisation we should be (excuse the modern phrase) building knowledge.
A few years back a DA walked away from the CTC because they didn’t want to trouble anybody with their decision to take a young lad with Downs Syndrome on club rides. In a better world it would have been a call to National Office, a swift OK, and a visit from the Godalming and the regional councillor to hand out gold stars and write it up for the manual. We don’t dish out gold stars and we don’t have a manual. And that, dear reader, is not inclusive.
I’m all for inclusion, but I know the task of reaching out is far more complex than buying in. I do know, however, that the impulse to include is at the very core of the Club. Nobody has a monopoly of wisdom. We could all do with looking at the way we do things, and we could all learn from others. That’s where National Office and Council could come in with a bit of knowledge building.
As for being elderly...I happen to think that’s an opportunity. Writing as someone whose days of getting up the Ditchling Beacon on a 59 inch gear are long gone, I think we should celebrate our crinkliness. Crinklies think, join and do. Look at all those volunteers serving as 'Friends' in hospitals – they’ve got the time, and they’ve thought, joined and they're doing. Look at the RHS, look at people raising money to save the church, shelter refugees or campaign against yet another monster Tescos. Crinklies – they’re the tops. Bring ‘em on!
We’d all agree that the CTC isn’t representative, by ethnic origin, gender or age of the wider cycling family – and less representative still of the population of the United Kingdom. This is regrettable. There’s a whole bunch of people out there that we’re not reaching. We need, as Professor Cox wrote in his article promoting the Special Resolution, to be more inclusive. In this respect Professor Cox and I are as one.
The CTC Council ‘buys in’ expertise. A consultant, who just happened to be blind, attended the 23rd January Council meeting and sought to bring Councillors up to date with the latest legislation and the expectations that Government has of organisations such as the CTC Trust that are in receipt of public money. This is an annual event, and very worthwhile. Except.......the response from Councillors was mixed. Some, like Jim Brown, know this field through and through, and fully accept that we could do better. On the other hand another councillor sought reassurance that member groups in his part of the world had no role to play – if I recall correctly his words were ‘so we don’t have to do anything’
The Chair takes the view that inclusion is something our Cycling Development Officers are reaching out and making the CTC more inclusive. He couldn’t be more wrong. You cannot be inclusive by way of a contract. Inclusive is who you are, not what you happen to be doing for money this week. And when the contracts expire, we’ll be the same old CTC.
The CTC is the government’s chosen partner in the effort to bring cycling to people with disability. This is an entirely laudable programme. The CTC is supremely well suited to this work, but in a way that the Chair might not readily bring to mind. I advance in evidence the Midweek Wayfarers, a sprightly bunch ranging in age from late 50s to early 90s. When it comes to impairment, they could tell us all a thing or two – the infirmities of age are not so much kept at bay, but immersed in the cool waters of cycling. Allowances and reasonable adjustments are made. That’s what Club members do, help each other along a bit. It’s so natural that it makes you wonder why the DDA ever needed to be written. But, being a natural thing it sometimes doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.
So, when a rider on the Cheam and Morden Friday Night Ride to the Coast told us that he was registered blind, and asked if we could enquire about his 3rd party cover this all came as a bit of a surprise to National Office and some members of Council. It turned out that he’d been riding with his DA for years, but that they had thought better of mentioning it to anyone – and, given the initial advice received from National Office that not only was he not covered, but that he should not be allowed on DA rides, you can see their point of view. Correspondence, some 23 pages of it, ensued, and, as you know, the underwriters have now agreed that disability is no bar to insurance cover or participation in group rides – so all is well that ends well. Except that this should have been the beginning.......
Up and down the country local groups have found different recipes for inclusion. Nationally we’re more male than we should be – but Stourbug, a CTC affiliate in Stourbridge draws 70 or more riders to their club runs – and over three quarters are women. Nationally we’re older than we should be, but the average age on the FNRttC is 35 – and the percentage of women is rising. The trouble is we’re not drawing all this together. All of this good inclusion stuff is happening in isolation. The point, made at the time of the Blind Rider Debacle, was that as a national organisation we should be (excuse the modern phrase) building knowledge.
A few years back a DA walked away from the CTC because they didn’t want to trouble anybody with their decision to take a young lad with Downs Syndrome on club rides. In a better world it would have been a call to National Office, a swift OK, and a visit from the Godalming and the regional councillor to hand out gold stars and write it up for the manual. We don’t dish out gold stars and we don’t have a manual. And that, dear reader, is not inclusive.
I’m all for inclusion, but I know the task of reaching out is far more complex than buying in. I do know, however, that the impulse to include is at the very core of the Club. Nobody has a monopoly of wisdom. We could all do with looking at the way we do things, and we could all learn from others. That’s where National Office and Council could come in with a bit of knowledge building.
As for being elderly...I happen to think that’s an opportunity. Writing as someone whose days of getting up the Ditchling Beacon on a 59 inch gear are long gone, I think we should celebrate our crinkliness. Crinklies think, join and do. Look at all those volunteers serving as 'Friends' in hospitals – they’ve got the time, and they’ve thought, joined and they're doing. Look at the RHS, look at people raising money to save the church, shelter refugees or campaign against yet another monster Tescos. Crinklies – they’re the tops. Bring ‘em on!