International Persons with Disabilities Day: Making sport inclusive for all
International Persons with Disabilities day
Despite the introduction of many innovative and inclusive programmes across the country, persons with disabilities in Ireland are more than two times less likely to participate in sport than those without disabilities.
This year’s International Day of People with a Disability (December 3) comes a few months after Ireland’s success at the 2024 Paralympic games in Paris, which showcased how persons with disabilities can amplify their voice and showcase their talent, dedication and leadership through sport.
More disabled people are participating in sport on a regular basis than ever before. This amounts to over 325,000 people, or 32% of all people with disabilities. However, despite significant investment and resourcing there is still much work to be done so that all persons with disabilities, regardless of their age and background, can access the health-enhancing benefits of physical activity.
As the Irish population ages, the rates of disability in Ireland are expected to increase. The 2022 census found that 4% of people aged under four experienced long-lasting conditions or difficulties, rising to 16% by the age of 45, 30% by the age of 65 and 76% for those over the age of 85.
According to Sports Ireland’s 2023 Irish Sports Monitor (ISM), disabled people are most likely to participate in personal exercise (11%) although this is still half the participation rate of persons without disabilities (20%). The next most popular sports are swimming (6%), cycling (3%), running (3%) or yoga (3%).
The ISM is an annual survey of over 8,500 adults into their sporting and physical activity habits and engagement and provides insights into physical activity behaviours across different demographics to help shed a light on inclusion and diversity in sport.
When it comes to some of the more traditional team sports the differences between those with and without disabilities increases significantly. Disabled people are five times less likely to play soccer and four times less likely to play Gaelic football than those without disabilities.
While there was no significant difference between the overall sports participation rate of women (33%) and men (31%) with disabilities, there was however a significant difference between socio-economic backgrounds.
Only one in five persons with disabilities (22%) who were living in a household where the chief income earner was unemployed or working in an unskilled job participated regularly in sport, compared to almost half (46%) of those with disabilities who lived in households where the chief income earner was in a managerial, administrative or professional occupation.
One of the most accessible physical activities for everyone in the population is walking, nearly two thirds of persons with disabilities (62%) walk for recreation on a weekly basis. The walking rate for those without disabilities is 72%.
Sport Ireland’s latest Children’s Sports Participation and Physical Activity study in 2022 found similar differences in sports participation rates between children with disabilities and those without disabilities. These differences were largest in community sports settings but could also be seen in minutes of PE per week and participation in extracurricular school sport.
The culmination of these physical activity experiences means that adults with disabilities are two times less likely to meet the national physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a week through sport and recreational walking than those without disabilities.
While one in five people with disabilities (21%) is doing no moderate or vigorous physical activity in a week, they are nearly three times more likely to be inactive than their peers who have no disabilities.
Sport Ireland has launched a Statement of Commitment and Action to advance and promote the inclusion of people with a disability in sport across the country and is recruiting a dedicated Disability Inclusion Lead to work across the sport sector and with other key stakeholders to deliver the commitments and actions outlined in the statement.
We need to work towards making opportunities available to all disabled people, regardless of the type of disability they have or their level of need. There are many excellent examples across the sport sector of programmes and opportunities that have been adapted and designed to specifically support and enable participation by people with disabilities. And there are examples of integrated models of inclusion that can be celebrated and replicated.
Donegal Sports Partnership in collaboration with Charity Liquid Therapy and with funding from Sport Ireland earlier this year launched Ireland's first seated surfboard, designed to enhance accessibility and inclusivity in water sports. This allowed individuals of all abilities, including wheelchair users, to experience the joy of surfing.
Westmeath Sports Partnership, in collaboration with the Angling Council of Ireland, have had a wonderful response to their CAST Programme for children and adults with additional needs. Located in the beautiful harbour in Ballynacaragy there are lots of fish to catch and release, but you can also learn about lines, hooks and the different fish in the local waterways.
Sport Ireland’s Participation in Sport by People with Disabilities policy has underpinned significant investment in the sport disability sector over the last seven years including the establishment of 29 Sport Inclusion Disability Officers (SIDOs) across the country. These are integrated within Sport Ireland’s 29 Local Sports Partnerships.
Earlier this year Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Sports Partnership, in collaboration with a local ice-skating rink, were able to provide a sensory ice-skating session for people with disabilities. While the Clare Sports Partnership in conjunction with local clubs and facilities hosted a Try Snorkelling for People with Disabilities event. This took place firstly in a swimming pool before a further session in sheltered open water.
In June 2025, Ramor Watersports Club in Cavan will host the sixth edition of the Watersports Inclusion Games, which is supported by the Sport Ireland Dormant Accounts Sports Inclusion Fund.
The award-winning free multi-watersports event is for all abilities/disabilities from the physical, intellectual, sensory and learning spectrums and those who experience barriers to accessing mainstream sport.
Catering to all ages it will include sailing, kayaking, canoeing, paddleboarding, powerboating, motorboating, rowing, waterskiing, snorkelling and dragon-boating.
The Participation in Sport by People with Disabilities policy has also underpinned investment in a range of national disability sport organisations including Special Olympics Ireland, Paralympics Ireland, Irish Wheelchair Association, Vision Sports Ireland, Deaf Sports Ireland and Active Disability Ireland.
The Irish Wheelchair Association’s Community Sports Club initiative is focused on creating new opportunities for children with physical disabilities to engage in sport and physical activity, with the aim of establishing and sustaining a club in every county in Ireland.
While Vision Sports Ireland have created a revolutionary Vision Impaired Sports Hub in Portlaoise which caters for all ages. This provides swimming lessons for visually-impaired children, an athletics programme, vision-impaired football sessions with a pathway for players to join the national team, and a visually-impaired golf programme.
The sector is determined to deliver many more of these programmes and the latest local opportunities for people with disabilities along with contact details for your SIDO are on the Sport Ireland website. Not all paths will lead to Paralympic glory, but the challenge is to provide every person the same opportunity for an inclusive and sustainable future in sport.
