CREATING MEANINGFUL SPORT OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG ATHLETES WITH A DISABILITY Jason Dunkerley
4-time Paralympian (medalist), T11 Middle Distance Track
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s Canadian sport policy leaders work diligently to strengthen development pathways for athletes with a disability, it’s timely to consider some of the factors which may influence these athletes towards becoming and remaining involved in competitive sport. I have spent a lot of time thinking about sport development for athletes with a disability. I grew up in Northern Ireland as one of three brothers with congenital blindness. Our parents encouraged us to be active. Although neighbourhood children were curious, we were generally accepted. We adapted our own games, rode bikes, and couldn’t wait to go outside after school. When we immigrated to Canada, my brothers and I attended a school for students with visual impairment where sport was encouraged. We were exposed to a variety of sports within a safe and supportive environment, which galvanized us to work hard and develop athletic competency. For my brothers, this meant specializing in wrestling; for me, middle distance running. By the time I entered university in the fall of 1997, I had the confidence to ask the cross country and track coach if I could join the team. He had no qualms about me coming to practices, although he had never coached a blind runner before. By training and spending time with the 10
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team, I soon improved to the point where I qualified for my first national Para Athletics team. This is my own experience and it is anything but typical, as in reality there is no common road for emerging athletes with a disability. What is apparent is that it is not easy for many children with disabilities to enter the sport system. As many as 78 % of parents of children with disabilities claim that their children do not participate in community programs (Picard, 2012). Just 3 % of Canadian children with disabilities participate in organized sport, compared to 36 % of their able-bodied peers. When it comes to unstructured physical activity, nearly a quarter of young people with disabilities do not take part, compared to just 2 % on the able-bodied side (Levelling the Playing field, 2012). There are a number of factors which may impact access to sport among young people with disabilities, including: • A positive or negative first experience – creating a reason to continue;
• Level of knowledge on how to accommodate participants with a disability; • Barriers (attitude; accessibility, etc) which may marginalize those with disabilities within sport settings; • Parental concerns related to the safety of sport and to minimize injury risk; • Level of awareness about the inclusive programs, organizations and services which are available. Young people need to be able to envision the possibility that they could follow in the footsteps of their role models, no matter how unfounded this may be. I grew up idolizing the professional soccer stars of the late 1980’s; I thought I could be like them one day, and nobody dissuaded me otherwise. Instilling this type of imaginative force among young people with disabilities is particularly important I think, given that members of this demographic often count themselves out. This is not to suggest that parents or sport leaders should mislead anybody into attempting to be someone they are not. Rather, it is to propose that emerging athletes with disabilities should be encouraged to envision success in spite of the limitations they may face.