Are mega-events a solution to address physical inactivity? Interrogating the London 2012 Paralympic sport participation legacies among people with disabilities

Abstract

Understanding why non-active people with disabilities have not participated in more sport since the London 2012 Paralympic Games is the focus of this paper. This research reviews the constraints preventing people with disabilities from participating in more sport, and the role the London 2012 Paralympic Games plays in this. Eighty-one people with disabilities in England who are non-active completed an online questionnaire exploring their constraints to participating in more sport. The data suggests attitudes towards the London 2012 Paralympic Games were not an important reason for the lack of sport participation: instead, systemic and social barriers are more constraining to participation in more sport. A factor analysis identified four components that constrain non-active people with disabilities: sport provision; economic; unawareness of how to include people with disabilities in sporting activities; and access to sport participation opportunities. The four components explained 72.93% of the total variance. It is recommended mega sporting events are not used as a policy intervention to increase sport participation of people with disabilities, as this does not account for constraining social and systemic barriers to sports participation. Instead, bottom-up solutions designed and managed in conjunction with people with disabilities may be more effective.

Keywords:

• Sport policy
• people with disabilities
• paralympic games
• sport participation legacy
• disability sport

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the reviewers for their comments and insight in improving the quality of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In 2010, the Conservative Party won the most seats in the 2010 UK General Election but fell short of the number of seats required to form a majority government. The Conservative Party, as the largest party in the UK, formed a Coalition government with the Liberal Democratic Party, the third largest party. This was the first time since the Second World War the UK had a ruling Coalition government. Readers interested in learning more about the Coalition government are recommended to consult the following BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8676607.stm

2 Sport England is the non-governmental body responsible for grassroots sport in England.

3 Sport England invested £91,477,960 into 42 national governing bodies of sport in receipt of 2013–2017 whole sport funding for grassroots disability sport participation targets (Brown, 2019). Please see Brown (2019) for a breakdown of the investment.

4 The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) changed its name to the Activity Alliance in 2018.

5 The Active People Survey was a national survey tracking the sport participation of adults (16+) in England. The survey ran from 2005 to 2016, subsequently being replaced by the Active Lives Survey. The Active Lives survey places increased emphasis on capturing data on individuals’ wider physical activity as well as their sports participation. This survey has been in operation since November 2015 and measures physical activity and sports participation in England for individuals aged 5+. For more information, please consult the dedicated Sport England Active Lives Survey online portal: https://activelives.sportengland.org/