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Cross-bench peer Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson appeared on flagship BBC TV programme The One Show last night, highlighting the barriers that disabled people face when trying to be more active.

The segment saw Tanni, who is Chair of ukactive, visit Salford to look at the inspiring Empower Health programme which supports disabled people to unlock more opportunities to exercise.

Empower is a service to support disabled people to engage in more social, physical and exercise-based activity, run by personal trainer Ben Andrews.

Tanni also spoke with Sport England’s Mike Diaper – asking if more can be done to help encourage disabled people into activity. He noted that ‘simple things like training or guidance could make a big difference’.

Tanni’s spearheading of this issue on the BBC builds on momentum in this area following ukactive’s National Summit in November 2017, where Disabilities Minister Penny Mordaunt MP unveiled plans for a pioneering scheme to give disabled people and those with long-term health conditions better access to physical activity opportunities.

The cross-sector initiative – to be led by ukactive, Sport England, Disability Rights UK and the English Federation of Disability Sport – will aim to remove barriers to physical activity for disabled people so they can tap into its myriad benefits.