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parkrun thread

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Dibble Sep 2023 10:44am, 25 Sep 2023 1,020 posts	Quote Pin Dibble (sorry pressed return too soon) I would agree with your approach larkim. I wouldn't feel obliged to help as a core team, but if the parent had emailed in asking for help, I would see if anyone was able to help making it clear it was up to her to satisfy herself with the arrangement. Also if she wanted to, we could post an appeal on our Facebook page, again making it clear we would not be responsible for safeguarding etc.
larkim Sep 2023 11:40am, 25 Sep 2023 22,068 posts	Quote Pin larkim Thanks all, yes that approach of "sharing" a request on FB or other social media seems like the best route - facilitating something but not really taking responsibility. (That said, I could see the lawyers at parkrun HQ (or at least their insurers) getting edgy even with that sort of shared appeal - it's the sort of situation where the risk averse professionals would probably rather say "no" to avoid taking on any new risk, vs saying "yes" and missing something which later catches them out. e.g. it's not that uncommon for people with one syndrome which creates learning disabilities to also have other, hidden, syndromes or weaknesses in their physical make up. If, say, the individual had a seizure which was out of the blue and unexpected and caused some injury etc I could see how that could be challenging. But it's all ifs and hypotheticals at that stage. Perhaps something best kept off HQ's radar!) On a different, but related, note, my 20yo son had open heart surgery 5.5 weeks ago. On Saturday he parkwalked to 53 minutes with a little light jog at the end with a big smile on his face. He was super proud of his achievement, and was a long way in front of the tail walker, so he didn't even have me feeling anxious about asking the volunteers to hang around for him!!
Ally-C Sep 2023 11:50am, 25 Sep 2023 4,233 posts	Quote Pin Ally-C Superb larkim
LindsD Sep 2023 3:53pm, 25 Sep 2023 64,063 posts	Quote Pin LindsD Excellent larkim
larkim Sep 2023 3:56pm, 25 Sep 2023 22,075 posts	Quote Pin larkim Might there be some disability discrimination act issue ref having barriers to participation for individuals with learning disabilities? I know "reasonable adjustments" are normally required; would it be reasonable to have to allocate a 1:1 LD-support runner each week?
sallykate Sep 2023 4:34pm, 25 Sep 2023 12,255 posts	Quote Pin sallykate I wouldn't have thought that would apply, given that it's entirely up to individual choice whether to run or not.
larkim Sep 2023 5:10pm, 25 Sep 2023 22,076 posts	Quote Pin larkim DDA certainly applies to voluntary organisations as I understand it, but it is in the context of reasonableness. i.e. it would be unlawful for a running club to exclude someone on the grounds of ethnicity, but it may be unreasonable to expect them to have to put on a wheel-chair training group to accommodate one individual's request (obvs, they may choose to do it anyway, but I doubt they could be "forced" to put it on). It might be "reasonable" for parkrun event team to offer to put a shout out for willing volunteers (as I've seen them do for guide runners), but equally unreasonable to expect them to have to accommodate everyone's individual support needs. I would bet the issue has been raised in the past. For our family it was never an issue as we all run, but I suppose if none of us were capable of taking part in parkrun and yet our LD son was, maybe I'd have a different attitude?
Dvorak Sep 2023 6:25pm, 25 Sep 2023 27,236 posts	Quote Pin Dvorak Wow, that's great by your son, larkim. As for your question, my opinion is a definite no. That's something absolutely outside the remit of the core team. In the same way that a core team would not provide a "responsible adult" to run with a child of 11 or under.
larkim Sep 2023 6:31pm, 25 Sep 2023 22,078 posts	Quote Pin larkim That's a really good and sensible analogy, don't know why that hadn't occurred to me. I sympathise for the family affected and I'm sure many core teams would help facilitate things with a few shout outs etc but that is probably as far as it should go.
BaronessBL Sep 2023 10:58pm, 25 Sep 2023 10,439 posts	Quote Pin BaronessBL I agree with Dvorak. I'd also go as far as to say that if the parent posted on the parkrun Facebook page that they were looking for support and made the arrangement themselves that's fine and maybe the core team can also post a request and make an introduction (if passing on a contact doesn't contravene GDPR) but as an occasional RD I'd feel quite uncomfortable offering up a volunteer on the day unless it became an actual role and the volunteer concerned had an enhanced DBS check done through parkrun specifically for that purpose.