Media Release - 23 August 2022
Nimbus has partnered with the Woman's Para Ice Hockey Team as they head to Green Bay in the United States for the IPC Women's World Challenge this week!
Nimbus, winners of the Queen’s Award for Excellence in Innovation 2022 for the Access Card, have teamed up with the National Woman's Para Ice Hockey Squad in their first partnership with GB Para Ice Hockey Association.
Mark Briggs PLY, Director of Partnerships at Nimbus Disability, and previous Captain of the GB men's para squad, said “we have wanted to support disability sport in the UK for a while now. We have 3 former Parlympians and 2 GB team members in our workforce across many para sports and this relationship shows that we are passionate and dedicated to make positive contributions to sport as a social enterprise”
Karl Nicholson, Chair of the British Para Ice Hockey Associate said “We are so pleased to be working collaboratively with Nimbus. Martin, Mark and Gary, from the Nimbus team, are all former GB players that understand the sport and how it has so much potential to positively impact on disabled people. This support, both financial and in kind, will help excel the para ice hockey, especially for the Women’s team heading out to the USA!“
Nimbus will be announcing a further relationship with the Men’s GB Squad later in the year. It is a relationship that we hope will bring more commercial interest into the sport as well as allowing us to invest our funding into the growth for widening opportunities for disabled people.
World Para Ice Hockey says it’s bringing the first-ever Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Challenge to Green Bay, Wisconsin this month. Four teams will compete in a round-robin style tournament 26th to 28th, introducing games between the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and there will also be a Team World, which will be made up of athletes from different nations. The sponsorship provided by Nimbus has gone a long way in helping the GB team get out to the tournament which will ultimately reduce the financial burden on the squad.
We have also provided the team with Access Cards for use as they travel to the US. Emily Mclean is seen hear collecting the cards at our Derby HQ yesterday (22nd Sept) before the team fly out.
Emily Mclean collecting Access Cards for the Women's GB Squad in front of the Nimbus Neon Cloud
Notes for Editor:
Nimbus Disability was created in 2006 by Martin Austin MBE.
Nimbus is a Social Enterprise with several areas of specialist support for businesses, from Training on Disability and the Social Model of Disability to Access Audits, but its main area of business has become running the Access Card. The organisation is run by and for disabled people, which is a very unique and outstanding model of operation.
Martin describes ‘The Access Card’ as a card like no other; we translate your disability or impairment into symbols that highlight the barriers you face and the reasonable adjustments you might need.
He goes on to say It’s all based on your rights under the Equality Act and providers’ responsibilities to ensure that Disabled people are not put at a disadvantage in participating in such events as live music or sporting events. The card and our partners have expanded over the years to see it being used at Buckingham Palace to Alton Towers. Once you are a cardholder and your needs have been assessed based on your application, this informs providers quickly and discreetly about the support you need and may gain you access to things like concessionary ticket prices and complex reasonable adjustments without having to go into loads of personal detail.
Even more groundbreaking is the international reach of the Card, having been rolled out the otherside of the world, in New Zealand. That locally operated Hapai Access Card, wokes in the exact same way and is led by a dedicated team in Auckland.
Images:
Contacts:
Mark Briggs - Director of Partnerships
07854821093