The secretary of state Dr. Alexandre Miguel Mestre said at the Social Inclusion Seminar: “The government is always happy to be involved with judo. The best judo class is led by Nuno Delgado. Sports includes inclusion itself. Sports is inclusion but sometimes we need an added value to materialize this. So we say social inclusion happens through sports.”
“The rules are universal, anyone can practice sports, regardless the nationality, gender etc.. But the fact is that for handicapped people or people with social problems. And we need to be aware that also some people have problems to be active in sports, like the handicapped. But in general the society is not aware how tough it can be. When the special Olympics were held it was quite a confrontation to see that people are completely depending on others to participate at these games and in sports in general. If we don’t all pitch in and be part of creating social inclusion, we create a problem. We want them to give them self esteem. So there is a human challenge.”
“There are financial problems and logistical problems in transport and access. Adapted sports needs adapted material and training. It hard to find qualified people who meet the demands of these people and that is what we talked about in London at the Games as a government.”
“We need to make it possible for handicapped people to have access to sports in schools. Also there is not attention for high potential and high performance sports. We need to make this talent to be developed.“
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