FAILING OUR youth

Canada’s first physical activity report card for children and adolescents with disabilities released

Ateam of researchers, representatives from disability and physical activity organizations, and parents of children and adolescents with disabilities came together earlier this year to produce Canada’s first-ever comprehensive summary of national physical activity data for children and adolescents with disabilities.

Led by Kelly Arbour-Nicitopoulos, an associate professor at KPE, the panel of experts used a set of previously established benchmarks from the Global Matrix, an internationally recognized framework for grading physical activity trends in children and adolescents, to grade 13 indicators of physical activity participation through a disability-specific lens.

“For the first time ever, we were able to synthesize all national-level data examining the movement behaviours of children with disabilities,” says Arbour-Nicitopoulos. “Based on available evidence, children and adolescents with disabilities received a grade of D for overall physical activity, F for active play and a C+ for organized sport and physical activity.”

Almost 40 per cent of the report card, including indicators for physical literacy and fitness, received an incomplete grade. The report makes four recommendations to increase the physical activity of children and adolescents with disabilities. (see box on the right)

“We know that participation in physical activity provides health and developmental benefits for all children and adolescents,” says Arbour-Nicitopoulos. “Yet, many social, institutional, community and policy barriers continue to limit the participation of Canadian children and adolescents with disabilities in physical activity. Our hope is that these recommendations and calls to action can move the needle on physical activity research, practice and policy for children and adolescents with disabilities.”

This research was supported by a Partnership Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for the Canadian Disability Participation Project, the Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities and ParticipACTION. — JD

The report makes the following recommendations to increase the physical activity of children and adolescents with disabilities:

• Increase funding commitments across all levels of government and existing accessibility legislation.

• Improve monitoring of key settings with more evidence on the accessibility of physical activity and sports programming in schools and community settings, and more data on the accessibility and inclusivity of infrastructure.

• Customize physical activity guidelines for children and adolescents with disabilities.

• Focus measurements on both the quantity and quality of physical activity participation.