1.1–1.3 Barriers to user groups (people with disabilities) GapFill

When considering disability, it is important to appreciate the wide range of impairments that it covers. Under the Equality Act (2010), you're defined as disabled if you have 'a physical or mental impairment that has a "substantial" and "long-term" negative effect on your ability to do normal  adventurousdailypsychologicalsimple activities’. In the 2019/20 Family Resources Survey, just over one in five people in the UK reported having a disability. This means that approximately 14.1 million people may encounter barriers which affect their participation in sport and physical activity. Individuals with disabilities are twice as likely as non-disabled individuals to be inactive. Let’s discover some of the barriers faced by those with disabilities.

A lot of people with a physical disability rely on the assistance of a  public buswheelchaircarcarer or other assistive devices, e.g. walking frames, to get from one place to another. This may cause challenges in gaining access to some facilities as there may not be  receptionistsstepsrampshelpers or lifts available.

Some facilities may lack specialised equipment (e.g.  exercise bikespool hoistsfoam tennis ballssquat racks) to enable disabled people to participate in sports and physical activity. A common barrier is a lack of activity  promotionaccessprovisionevents, such as adapted sports (e.g. boccia, wheelchair basketball and blind football). This may be linked to the previous point of not having specialised equipment and/or facilities available to provide these sports. Without the availability of adapted versions of sports and equipment (e.g. the addition of the  extra timegoalkeeperrefereesound ball in blind football), the opportunities for participation for people with disabilities, such as those with visual impairments, are limited. Additionally, some disabilities, e.g. learning difficulties, may require specialist  manualscoachesenvironmentsrules who have specifically been trained to work with these individuals. If there are few available in the local area, then sporting opportunities for people with certain disabilities are limited. Other accessibility features such as  wheelchairshoistsBrailleassistive walking aids for visually impaired and hearing loops for those who are deaf are needed to overcome barriers for people with these disabilities. It is important to be able to cater for the wide range of disabilities there are in society; the  programming of activitiesscoring systemsdurationconcessions to suit different groups of people and their needs is one way of helping to overcome this barrier.

The knock-on effect of lower participation rates at grassroots level is that there are very few disabled sportspeople at a professional level. This limits the number of  sponsorscommentatorspresentersrole models who would otherwise be promoting disabled sports participation and backing initiatives to overcome barriers. There is also very little  media coverageapprovalstereotypingpopularity of disabled sport, limiting the awareness of the types of adapted activity provision and opportunities for disabled people to get involved. This lack of awareness of disability sports can also lead to misconceptions and stereotypes about individuals with disabilities. These inappropriate attitudes can be barriers in themselves.

Finally, people with disabilities may also face lower disposable  popularityprovisionincomesemployment, due to their inability to work or get a job. Therefore, they may find participating in sports too expensive as they may not be able to fund the equipment or fees to take part.