A traditional game is not inclusive just because it is traditional. Our six-step practical guide to adapting games for disability, language, gender and economic barriers.
A traditional game is not inclusive just because it is traditional. It becomes inclusive when the person leading it has thought in advance about the girl who never joins in, the lad who has just arrived and does not speak the language, or the person who uses a wheelchair. This is the practical guide we apply in I-PLAY.
Change the question
I-PLAY training starts from a simple but decisive shift. The question is no longer "can this person play our game?" but "how do we change the game so that they can play?".
Behind this lies the social model of disability (barriers lie in the environment and the rules, not in the person) and the Universal Design for Learning framework: designing for the diversity of the group from the outset, rather than making exceptions as you go.
That is why all 12 game sheets in the I-PLAY library include a section on inclusive adaptations. Not a selection of them: every single one.
Step 1: identify the barriers before you play
Each game sheet opens its adaptations section with the barriers identified. Before the session, ask yourself four questions about your group:
Are there any physical barriers? Distances, speed, contact, the playing surface.
Are there language or cultural barriers? Long explanations, unspoken rules, gestures that do not mean the same thing everywhere.
Are there gender barriers? Teams that are always formed the same way, roles that get handed out by default, comments the group does not recognise as harmful.
Are there economic barriers? Clothing, equipment, transport or food that mark out who has and who has not.
Step 2: adapt the rules and equipment
For people with disabilities, the most common adaptations are simple:
Shorten distances or enlarge areas for play and for safety.
Change the way people move: walking instead of running, rolling, relays in pairs.
Use lighter, larger or more visible equipment: soft or audible balls, high-contrast colours.
Allow more time or introduce fixed turns so that nobody depends on speed.
An example: in lokotxak, the corncob-gathering race, you can reduce the 1.25 metres between corncobs, place the basket at a suitable height or turn the individual event into a cooperative relay against the clock.
Step 3: don't let language be a barrier
With groups that do not share a language, our recommendation is clear:
Replace verbal explanation with physical demonstration. Play a slow example round.
Learn four basic commands in the group's languages before you start: stop, go, switch, well done.
Use pictogram rules and plain-language materials.
Invite each person to name the equivalent game from their own tradition. That way, people stop learning "someone else's game" and start exchanging games.
When someone explains how a game is played in their country, they stop being "the new one" and become the one who teaches.
Step 4: real equality between girls and boys
Agree before you play on rules for language and team selection. Expressions such as "you play like a girl" crop up without the group recognising them as harmful.
Rotate roles: who throws, who runs, who referees, who captains.
Mixed, balanced teams as the default, not the exception.
Pay attention to visibility: celebrate every contribution equally, not just the most spectacular ones.
Step 5: safety and dignity
Inclusion is also about safety. Check the space and every piece of equipment before the session, and decide from the outset which version of the game you will use, so that nobody has to ask for an exception in front of the group. If you film videos, do so only with written informed consent and never with identifiable data of minors.
Step 6: evaluate and share
Each game sheet ends with four evaluation questions, one of which asks about the adaptations you made and whether they worked. Write it down: that information is what allows the game sheet to be improved for the next group.
Give it a try
Choose a game from the library at i-play.abarka.org, read its adaptations section and prepare your session using this guide. And if you come up with an adaptation that works, tell us about it: we will add it so that other groups across Europe can use it too.