A clear picture of the sports and physical activity behavior of children with disabilities is lacking

This study was carried out with the support of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. For this exploration, data on the sports and physical activity behavior of children with disabilities were searched for online. In addition, experts (including DUO and Statistics Netherlands (CBS)) were asked about potentially available data.

Ad hoc studies, often with small samples, provide limited insight into the sports and physical activity participation of children with various types of disabilities. In addition, the differences in the results of such studies are considerable. It is clear, however, that children with disabilities participate in sports and physical activity less often than their peers in the general population.

Other findings include:

• The number of children and young people with a disability or chronic condition in the Netherlands is difficult to establish. The margins of error in estimates of the number of children with specific disabilities are large.
• The main reasons why children with disabilities participate in sports or physical activity are enjoyment, exercise and social contacts.
• The most common barriers experienced by children with disabilities when participating in sports and physical activity are a lack of motivation, insufficient guidance and insufficient opportunities in the neighborhood to participate in sports and physical activity.
• There are several ways to monitor sports and physical activity participation among children with disabilities: research through screening, research through schools, international literature and secondary analysis of existing data sources. Differences in research methods lead to considerable differences in the results.

It is recommended that a step-by-step approach be taken toward an implementation plan for the integrated monitoring of sports and physical activity participation among children with disabilities. The development of a so-called core indicator, ‘sports and physical activity participation among children with disabilities’, is an important step in the implementation plan for monitoring. Coordination between the various parties that develop new data and manage existing data, and the parties that use this data for analyses, is crucial.

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