How to Help Athletes With Disabilities Pursue Sport

 

If you're the caregiver to an athlete with a disability, it can be a daunting process to help them pursue the sports that they're interested in, and it may be tempting to shy away from putting youth with disabilities into traditional sports programs at all. However, youth sport can be incredibly beneficial for a young person's development and well-being, regardless of their ability.

Here, Dr. Michele LaBotz, TrueSport Expert and sports medicine physician, offers some guidance for caregivers about how to navigate sport if your aspiring athlete has a disability.

Why Sport Matters for All Youth

"The value of sport in terms of the social integration it can provide is unparalleled," LaBotz says. "Often, kids with disabilities are unfortunately marginalized. But being able to participate in a team sport really helps with that social integration, and it helps with their perception of self-resilience and capacity-building. Getting kids with disabilities engaged in appropriate levels of sport and physical activity has unique benefits in this population."

It's also critical to their ongoing health. In 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a report calling for more inclusion in sport for youth with disabilities. In the report, they noted that children with disabilities should be "encouraged to participate in sports, recreation and physical activities that best suit their preferences and abilities, with help from pediatricians who can offer guidance, reassurance and resources."

"Historically, both families and healthcare providers have really erred on the side of caution when discussing physical activity for children with disabilities, incorrectly perceiving that the capacity wasn't there and that the risk was high," says LaBotz. "But more recent data has flipped that on its head: The capacity of many of these kids, especially if you can get them to engage in activity at a young age, can be surprising given some of their perceived limitations."

Sport is often a big part of social development as well. "There's a community-building aspect to sport, and the more you can engage peers in the process of helping kids with disabilities, you're changing the social norms," says LaBotz. "Seeing kids with disabilities being active is important, not only for that kid, but for his non-disabled peer group."

As a caregiver, your role should not be to limit your young athlete: Rather, it should be to help them navigate how to safely participate in those sports and activities that they want to take part in. Obviously, each young athlete is an individual case, and LaBotz notes that there's a wide range of athletes with different disabilities and capabilities. There is no straightforward rule for what sports an athlete with a disability can take part in within youth sport, but here are some general tips for getting started.

1. Check on What's Offered in Gym Class

"Any programs that are federally funded in the U.S. do have to provide equal opportunity," says LaBotz. "For instance, in physical education classes, it is mandated that kids with all sorts of disabilities need to have equal access to taking PE. What you often find is that parents or schools will exempt kids with disabilities from their physical education requirement, and that generally wouldn’t be my recommendation."

You can also talk to the school about your child's individualized education program (IEP), and where sport can fit into that. "Many children with disabilities do have an IEP, and physical education is a mandated part of that program that often does not happen," LaBotz says. "But it's really important. You might think that you're helping your kid and protecting them by signing a PE excusal, but you're actually keeping them from all of these opportunities."