An analysis of people with disabilities in Australia by age, sex, disability type and severity – Implications for leveraging the 2032 Paralympic games to increase physical activity participation

Objectives

Australia’s bid for the 2032 Paralympic Games included a commitment to increasing sport participation among people with disabilities by 500,000. Realising this legacy will require an accurate understanding of the composition of the Australian disability population – age, sex, disability type and disability severity – as well as current Para sport participation rates.

Design and methods

Collation and synthesis of publicly available data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Para sport master lists.

Results

Among 4.37M Australians with disability, 44.5 ​% were aged ≥65 ​yrs. Of those aged <65 ​yrs, the maximum population that could be eligible for Para sport comprise 529,800 with intellectual disability, 85,900 with sight loss, and 802,000 with physical disability. Many high-prevalence disability types are not eligible for Para sport (e.g., hearing loss ​= ​1.07M; psychosocial disability ​= ​1.14M) and sport may not be appropriate for other types (e.g., chronic pain/discomfort ​= ​1.46M). Compared with others with disability, those with severe/profound disabilities are least active (17.4 ​% meet physical activity guidelines) and underrepresented in sport (3.2 ​% of Para athletes with physical impairment have high support needs).

Conclusions

Increasing participation in any form of physical activity – including Para sports and other sports – by 500,000 would be a more achievable and inclusive legacy goal than increasing sports participation alone. Such an approach would cater for high-prevalence disability groups for whom commencement of competitive sport may not be suitable (e.g., >65 ​yrs, chronic pain). To permit safe, effective engagement in sport/physical activity for individuals with severe impairments and high support needs, investment in development and implementation of specialised, evidence-based programs is required.