Persons with disability
Modifying a sport to make it more inclusive for persons with disability is a fundamental part of the Paralympic movement.
Modifying a sport to make it more inclusive for persons with disability is a fundamental part of the Paralympic movement and other international organisations for people with disability. Specific equipment and rules can be developed to accommodate specific individual requirements and allow full participation in a sport.
- Sports Ability Resources, Australian Sports Commission, (accessed 22 December 2023). Activity cards for all levels of ability designed to develop children's skills, confidence and motivation for sports-based activities. The resources provide step-by-step guidance for teachers, coaches and deliverers, including suggestions for ways to modify elements of each activity to ensure that every child is able to participate.
More information about the participation levels, benefits of, and specific barriers and facilitators for sport participation of people with a disability can be found in the Sport and Persons with Disability topic.
Resources and reading
- The Integration of Wheelchair Users in Team Handball, opens in a new tab, Steffen Greve, Sinikka Heisler, Pia von Keutz, et.al., Sports, Volume 9(12), 168, (December 2021). Thus far, there are only a few sports activities in which people with and without intellectual disabilities can participate together and on an equal footing. The situation is even more complicated when people who are dependent on a wheelchair want to take part. The sports project Freiwurf Hamburg aims to make team handball playable for everyone. This case study documents how this can be achieved with a modified version of the handball game for runners and wheelchair users. Qualitative and quantitative data are collected and evaluated. The results show that players tend to distinguish between the roles of runner and wheelchair user rather than between disabled and non-disabled.
- Baskin – a new basketball-based sport for reverse-integration of athletes with disabilities: an analysis of the relative importance of player roles, opens in a new tab, Davide Sisti, Stefano Amatori, Roberto Bensi, et.al., Sport in Society, Volume 24(2), pp.277-285, (2021). Reverse integration in sports is a kind of integration in which athletes with disabilities outnumber their non-disabled counterparts. A new sport that reflects the concept of reverse integration is ‘Baskin’, which has similar rules to traditional basketball, with a difference: players are divided into five roles, according to the severity of their disability or lack thereof. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate, the degree of contribution to the match outcome of the Baskin scores of participants in different roles. The investigation was conducted by analysing the 2015/2016 Baskin league season, comparing the points scored by each player role. Results showed that the contribution of athletes with severe disabilities is decisive to the outcome of the games. Within the concept of reversed integration, some changes to the rules could be made to spread the scoring more evenly across the various player roles on the Baskin team.
- 'We're doing AFL auskick as well': Experiences of an adapted football program for children with autism, opens in a new tab, Tamara May, Nicole Rinehart, Lisa Barnett, et.al., Journal of Motor Learning and Development, Volume 6(1), pp.130-146, (2018). This study explored parent experiences of and influences on child participation in an 11-week Australian Football League (AFL) Auskick football program adapted for children with ASD as well as changes in their motor skills. The program was run in 2014 (Phase 1) and 2015 (Phase 2).Three key themes were identified: benefit of doing something ‘normal’; simple adaptations work; and, despite barriers, the benefits are worthwhile. Parent-proxy report indicated improvement in child object control skills. Objective assessment showed no change in children’s motor skill. Parental experiences of the program indicated that simple accommodations can engage children with ASD and their families in organized sporting programs. Given potential psychosocial and health benefits of organized sports, further controlled studies of this type of program in children with ASD are warranted.
- Opportunities and Benefits for Powerchair Users Through Power Soccer, opens in a new tab, Michael Jeffress, William Brown, Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, Volume 34(3), pp.235-255, (2017). The present study provides a qualitative analysis of the experiences of 34 American power soccer athletes. Participant observation and in-depth interviews with 11 female and 23 male athletes were conducted between 2007 and 2013. Results indicate that involvement in power soccer provides participants with an increased sense of empowerment, acquisition of social capital, and psychosocial benefits, including a deep satisfaction of the desire to participate in competitive sports and an opportunity to be independent. Implications of these findings for improving the quality of life of people with physical disabilities and for future research are discussed.
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