Mountain Training Disability and Neurodiversity Survey Results

In October 2025, Mountain Training conducted its first ever disability and neurodiversity survey in partnership with Access Sport, the national sports inclusion charity. The survey received 812 responses offering a wealth of valuable data and insight into individual’s experiences of walking, climbing and the Mountain Training pathways. 

71% of respondents were individuals with a disability and/or neurodivergence. The remaining responses were from leaders who work with disabled and/or neurodiverse participants. 

These responses were analysed by Access Sport who identified four key findings and four recommendations: 

Key findings:

• Disabled and neurodivergent people enjoy and value walking and climbing activities. 
   
• Disabled and neurodivergent people experience significant barriers to taking part in Mountain Training courses. 
   
• Disabled and neurodivergent people don’t feel represented or understood by leaders/instructors. 
   
• Non-disabled and/or neuromajority leaders/instructors feel less able to work with disabled and/or neurodivergent clients. 

Key recommendations:

• Further insight gathering: to identify differences between e.g. qualifications, nations etc and to delve deeper into qualitative feedback. 
   
• Upskill the workforce – create training offers for instructors and assessors. 
   
• Accredit Access Sport training with MTA CPD points to encourage training uptake amongst members. 
   
• Review course design and systems for inclusivity.

Read the full report:

Mountain Training are currently working on these recommendations. Some of them are relatively straightforward to action. Others will take significant thought and time to consider, to make changes where necessary and to implement these fully across the Mountain Training network.

Actions so far as a direct result of the survey include:

• Sharing the Access Sport report and learning with our providers and the public.
  
  
• Further qualitative analysis of survey responses.
  
  
• Analysis of responses broken down by nation to explore national differences.
  
  
• Accrediting Access Sport training with Mountain Training Association CPD points.
  
  
• Planning underway to roll out disability and neurodiversity training to Association regional volunteers and members.
  
  
• Development of a pilot Mountain Training course delivered with “neurodivergence best practice” in mind to create future course delivery recommendations and guidance.
  
  
• Training our providers in the management of climbers with disabilities at our recent MTE/MTC provider conference.

Related work during this period includes:

• Mountain Training Scotland review of reasonable adjustments implemented to identify and share good practice. 
   
• Ongoing Mountain Training bursary support to candidates with accessibility needs and redesign of Mountain Training England’s Disability Training Fund. 
     
• Guide Walker training development and partnership with See Cymru Differently, a partnership project with the RNIB. 
   
• Writing and publication of the MTE Equity strategy referencing pathways for neurodiverse and disabled participants/candidates. 
   
• The development and publication, in Autumn 2026, of ‘Climbing for All’- updated guidance for instructors on the management of climbing activities for people with disabilities. 
   
• Mountain Training Association workshops on sensory, cognitive, and physical impairment, as well as mental health and wellbeing workshops. 

Future work will focus on the key recommendations and any findings from further, ongoing analysis. 

We also want to acknowledge the findings that disabled and neurodivergent people don’t feel fully represented in Mountain Training. There is much work for us to do here in the future. You can view some existing leader profiles below.

However, for now, we would like to highlight how clear it was from the survey findings, as well as our knowledge of the industry, that there are large numbers of neurodivergent and disabled leaders out there instructing, coaching, encouraging participation and being amazing role models for their community and beyond. A few ways we have celebrated some of these leaders previously can be found below, and we plan to expand this work in the future.

Celebrations of neurodiverse and disabled Mountain Training leaders and candidates: 

Our What’s Possible short film:

Leader profiles:

Several articles in The Professional Mountaineer magazine relate to supporting individuals as both leaders and their participants who are either disabled or neurodivergent - search ‘Disabled’ or ‘Accessible’ in the online archive.

We are always very interested to hear from instructors and participants about their experiences and successes within our sector so we can promote such stories to celebrate their achievements. Tag us on socials or send us your story.