We know that individuals with disabilities are not getting the same amount of physical activity and athletic opportunities as individuals without disabilities.
- More than 50 million1 (1 in 5) people in the United States have documented disabilities.2
- Individuals with disabilities are almost three times as likely to be sedentary as individuals without disabilities (29% vs. 10%).3
- Fifty-six percent of people with disabilities do not engage in any physical activity.4
- Only 23% of people with disabilities are active for at least 30 minutes three or more times per week.5
- At the 2004 Paralympic Games there were 3,806 athletes participating,6 compared to 10,864 athletes participating in the 2004 Olympic Games.7 At the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games there were 482 athletes participating compared to 3,145 athletes participating in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games.8
- The NCAA does not officially sanction any intercollegiate program, event or competition for individuals with disabilities.
- The National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations does not officially sanction any interscholastic program, event, or competition for individuals with disabilities.
We know that the female athlete with a disability is in double jeopardy. She is discriminated against by her gender. She is discriminated against by her disability.
- Throughout all levels of sport women with disabilities are not getting as many opportunities as men with disabilities. Although women comprise half of the population of individuals with disabilities,9 in 2002, women and girls comprised less than 12% of all wheelchair basketball players in the world.10
- Even at the Paralympic level, women are not receiving equivalent opportunities. In the 2000 Paralympic Games, women made up 25% (971) of the athletes. In the 2004 Paralympic Games, women only comprised 31% (1,160) of the athletes competing.11 In the Winter Games, women comprised only 21.1% (88) of the athletes in 2002 and 20.9% (99) of the athletes in 2006.12
- Leadership gender disparities add to the hurdles for female athletes with disabilities. As of the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games only two women (13.3%) serve on the 15-member International Paralympic Committee.13
Yet we know that sports participation is critical for a female with a disability just as it is for all females.
- A high school girl who plays sports is less likely to be involved in an unintended pregnancy;14 less likely to be involved in drugs15 and more likely to graduate from high school than girls who do not play sports.16
- Physical activity prevents health problems. It reduces the risk of developing heart disease and helps control weight, build lean muscle, reduce fat17 and prevent osteoperosis.18 As little as two hours of exercise a week on the part of a teenage girl can reduce her lifelong risk of breast cancer.19
- Girls who play sports are more confident and have higher self-esteem20 and better body images than girls who do not.21
POSITION: Individuals with and without disabilities, male and female, must be provided with equal opportunities to participate and treatment in physical education, school recess, club, varsity and intramural sports and other recreational activities, mainstreaming such participation to the fullest extent possible and providing disability-specific programs when necessary.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Acquisition of Baseline Data. State education agencies, state high school athletic associations, college sports governance organizations (i.e., the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics, the National Junior College Athletic Association, etc.) should survey their member institutions to determine the participation levels of students with and without disabilities and by gender and race within those categories and compare such data. The USOC should require that national sport governing bodies (NGBs) collect similar data as required by the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act and hold NGBs responsible for instituting programs to improve participation.
2. Federal Law. The agencies responsible for compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act and Individuals with Disabilities in Education and Rehabilitation Acts should establish regulations that specify school and college compliance with these laws in physical activity settings: physical education, school recess, recreation and club, intramural and varsity sports programs.
3. State Laws and Education Policies. State laws and education policies should be enacted to require that schools and colleges provide equal participation opportunities and treatment for individuals with and without disabilities. Toward that end, model state laws and education policies should be shared with state legislators.
4. Inclusion of Individuals With Disabilities in Leadership Positions. Education and sport leaders should insist that coach and administrative staff employment search committees and nominating committees for governance boards produce candidate pools of diverse composition that include individuals with disabilities. Raising organization sensitivity to issues related to individuals with disabilities begins with those in leadership positions.
5. Conditions of Grant-Making and Financial Support. The USOC and other grant-making organizations should insist on disability diversity or the existence of programs to address such diversity deficiencies as a condition for the consideration of funding applications.
6. Public Education and Imagery. Sports organizations should be asked to self-examine publications and promotional materials to ensure that athletes with disabilities are included as “faces” of the sport organization. The role-model images of female athletes with disabilities must be celebrated in the media in order to inspire girls with and without disabilities following in their footsteps.
7. Athlete Mentoring. Athletes with and without disabilities should consider mentoring girls with disabilities or volunteering to help organizations seeking to get girls with disabilities involved in physical activities.
8. Affirmative Action Programs. Sports organizations with low participation by individuals with disabilities should be encouraged to institute programs to recruit and train this underrepresented group.
9. Standing Committees. Every coaches and sport organization should have a standing committee or interest group to create the agendas for change for individuals with disabilities in sport. These groups should track organizational progress towards goals.
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Founded in 1974 by Billie Jean King, the Women's Sports Foundation is a national charitable educational organization seeking to advance the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity. The Foundation's Participation, Education, Advocacy, Research and Leadership programs are made possible by individual and corporate contributions. The Foundation is located in Nassau County, N.Y. For more information, please call the Foundation at 800-227-3988 or visit www.WomensSportsFoundation.org.
*The Women's Sports Foundation thanks Dr. Donna Lopiano, Women's Sports Foundation Chief Executive Officer and Terri Lakowski, Women's Sports Foundation Public Policy Coordinator for authoring this document, with contributions from Ann Cody, Chair of the Education Committee for the International Paralympic Committee; Scot Hollonbeck of the Disabled Sports Foundation, Aimee Mullins, Women's Sports Foundation President, Elise Roy, Policy Analyst of Katz, Marshall & Banks, Lauren Young, Director of Litigation, Maryland Disability Law Center, Eli Wolf, Director of Research and Advocacy for the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University, and Melanie Bennett, Women's Sports Foundation Advocacy Intern.
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1 American Association for People with Disabilities, 2006. http://www.aapd.com/docs/info.php.
2 United States Census Bureau, 2006. http://www.census.gov/popest/states/tables/NST-EST2006-01.xls
3 Longmuir & Bar-Or, 1994, Pediatric Exercise Science Vol. 6, 168-177.
4 National Center for Health Statistics “National Health Interview Survey”. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm
5 National Center for Health Statistics “National Health Interview Survey”.http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm
6 International Paralympic Committee, 2006 http://www.paralympic.org/release/Main_Sections_Menu/Paralympic_Games/
7 “New Record Participation of Women at the Olympic Games” (August 19, 2004) International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/uk/news/olympic_news/full_story_uk.asp?id=1017
8 Zurn, L.; Lopiano, D.; and Snyder, M. 2006. Women in the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games: An Analysis of Participation, Leadership and Media Coverage. East Meadow, NY: Women's Sports Foundation.
9 American Association for People with Disabilities, 2006.
10 International Wheelchair Basketball Federation, 2002
11 Cody, A. 2005. IPC Women in Paralympic Sport Progress Report. Retrieved January 4, 2007, from International Paralympic Committee Website: http://www.paralympic.org/release/Main_Sections_Menu/IPC/Organization/
Standing_Committees/Commission_Women_Sport/WISC.html
12 Zurn, L.; Lopiano, D.; and Snyder, M.2006. Women in the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games: An Analysis of Participation, Leadership and Media Coverage. East Meadow, NY: Women's Sports Foundation.
13 Zurn, L.; Lopiano, D.; and Snyder, M.2006. Women in the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games: An Analysis of Participation, Leadership and Media Coverage. East Meadow, NY: Women's Sports Foundation.
14 Dodge, T., and Jaccard, J. 2002. “Participation in athletics and female sexual risk behavior: The evaluation of four causal structures.” Journal of Adolescent Research, 1742-67.
15 Page, R.M.; Hammermeister, J.; Scanlan, A.; and Gilbert, L. 1998. “Is school sports participation a protective factor against adolescent health risk behaviors?” Journal of Health Education, 29(3):186-192.
16 Sabo, D.; Melnick, M.; and Vanfossen, B. 1989. The Women's Sports Foundation Report: Minorities in Sports. New York: Women's Sports Foundation.
17 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 1996 Physical Activity and Health: a Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
18 Kannus, P. 1999. “Preventing osteoporosis, falls, and fractures among elderly people.” British Medical Journal, 318:205-206.
19 Thune, I., et al. 1997. “Physical activity and the risk of breast cancer.” New England Journal of Medicine, 18:1269-1275.
20 Richman, E.L., and Shaffer, D.R. 2000. “‘If you let me play sport': How might sport participation influence the self-esteem of adolescent females?” Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24:189-199.
21 President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports 1997. “Physical activity and sport in the lives of girls: Physical and mental health dimensions from an interdisciplinary approach, “Washington, D.C.: Department of Health and Human Services.