Paralympic Committee calls for tax changes and help with promotion

The Portuguese Paralympic Committee (CPP) presented to the parties running in the legislative elections on March 10 some contributions to the development of sports for people with disabilities, such as tax changes, and asked for help in promotion.

In a document sent to the media this Monday, the CPP regrets that “sport in particular and physical activity in general have been ignored by both the state and families.”

To counter this forgetfulness, the organization suggests that party forces running for the legislature, which runs until 2028, “adopt effective strategies for the development of sports, especially in relation to people with disabilities.”

In presenting the “six pillars” of action, the NPC also states that it supports the proposals presented by the Portuguese Olympic Committee (POC), namely the existence of a public administration structure solely responsible for the implementation of sports policies and programs, a review of the status of the volunteer sports director, and restructuring of the public funding model of the sports movement and the tax regime applicable to physical and sporting activities in Portugal.

The first of the ‘pillars’ identified by the CPP includes sport in school as a way of including people with disabilities, utilizing the skills of PE teachers, and advocating for closer coordination between sports federations and school sports.

This is followed by a call to strengthen the training of sports trainers in the technical, methodological and pedagogical features of working with people with disabilities.

The CPP intends to provide an additional funding program for federations, associations and clubs that provide training and participation in sports for people with disabilities, as well as tax incentives for competition partners and guides for athletes with disabilities, not just for them.

Another gap that the CPP intends to address in the next elections is the involvement of athletes, promoting the importance and benefits of sports activities, especially for people with disabilities.

“These campaigns should highlight the opportunity to create moments of true inclusion, develop diverse movement skills and enable people with disabilities to achieve greater independence and/or physical and emotional well-being through sport,” the chapter states. document of the Paralympic Organization, which “has the opportunity to find the most appropriate solutions to improve the level of participation in sports in general and among people with disabilities in particular.”

The document concludes with CPP’s commitment to truly adapting sports venues to make them accessible to all people through “a concrete program of financial support for sports venue accessibility issues that definitively removes these barriers of the past.”