Inclusive Sports

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience a wide variety of physical and behavioral health conditions at much higher rates than most individuals. These include obesity, heart-related disease, high blood pressure, and a host of behavioral health conditions. Socially, members of this group are often excluded from participating in community-based activities that are inclusive in nature. For many people, this results in higher levels of social isolation and loneliness. Inclusive sport has, in recent years, been touted as an approach that can support better physical health on the part of children and young adults with IDD while also facilitating greater social inclusion. This article will explore the strengths and limitations of inclusive education and inclusive sport and how the two approaches can potentially support each in a manner that enhances both the health and social inclusion of children, youth, and adults with disabilities.

Social inclusion and physical health are two closely related concepts. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, for example, emphasizes the importance of participation in recreation, leisure, and sports activities as avenues through which to support social inclusion as well as enhanced physical health and quality of life. In addition, over twenty years of research has indicated that people who are socially included lead a higher quality of life from both a physical and mental standpoint. In spite of this, people with IDD regularly experience discrimination within the school and the community and as a result, are often deprived of participation in meaningful inclusive activities.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that education is provided to students in the least restrictive environment. However, this is often a decidedly different context than the most inclusive setting when it comes to students with IDD. Educational statistics indicate that in the U.S. today, only one-third of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities spend the majority of their time in general education classes. The situation is even more dire for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

Academically the grouping of students with and/or without disabilities by ability level has been found to have a negative impact on a wide variety of developmental outcomes. Students in ability grouped classes exhibit higher levels of anxiety and behavioral problems, tend to feel excluded and less motivated, and experience reduced enjoyment from learning. They are more likely to develop low self-concepts, levels of self-efficacy, and growth mindsets (doi.org/10.1108/QEA-12-2024-0154), be at greater risk of stigmatization and bullying and encounter low adult expectations (doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcae050).

Although results are equivocal, a growing body of research on the other hand demonstrates that inclusive educational environments are associated with improved learning and social outcomes for students with disabilities. Studies find that increased time in general education settings predicts higher achievement (doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2021.1961194), greater opportunities for peer support, positive social interaction, participation, and the development of friendships (doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270124).

Involvement in sports is viewed by many individuals as contributing to enhanced inclusion whether the athlete in question has or does not have a disability. There are a number of school and sport organizational practices, however, that serve as barriers to inclusive participation that need to be overcome. Organizational practices or how schools, athletic teams, and sport clubs group youth for instructional or competitive purposes based on levels of performance, are one such barrier. This approach divides students, decreasing exposure and physical proximity to peers and subsequently reduces opportunities for social interaction. Ability grouping, whether in academics or sports, maintains stereotypes and negative attitudes and is associated with early exclusion and potential identity damage, reduced diversity with respect to the peers to which young adults have access, toxic levels of competitiveness, and extremely high levels of burnout with 70% of U.S. youth dropping out of sports by the age of 13 (doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537; doi.org/10.1123/kr.2023-0024).

The research evidence is growing, however, that inclusive sports participation is associated with positive benefits for youth. One of the most critical is its power to decrease the social isolation experienced by youth with IDD. In their systematic review of inclusive sport research, Ristevski and colleagues reported that participation in sporting activities was associated with increased opportunities to meet new people, gain social acknowledgement, and increase social interactions (doi.org/10.1111/jar.13238). Others have found that inclusive sports participation supports enhanced feelings of acceptance and belonging, improved self-concept and self-esteem. Just as important, inclusive sports have been found to facilitate more positive attitudes toward people with disabilities (doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710889).

Although it would be optimal for our society to be at a place in its evolution where all people were accepted and diversity was viewed as enriching as opposed to detracting from a person’s life, we are not there at this time. As a result, it is unrealistic to expect that merely placing groups of children and youth with and without disabilities together, whether in sports or general education classrooms, will result in those students experiencing a sense of belonging. Rather, it would appear that catalysts are needed to support youth getting to know and appreciate one another. Inclusive sport, as described by articles included in this issue of Impact, is one approach that has the potential to fill this void. However, one must ask whether this will be sufficient, especially at a secondary level.

Inclusive sport alone might therefore be best viewed as a facilitative, but not sufficient, approach to creating truly inclusive communities. The same holds for inclusive education. Each approach, by itself, may result in enhanced inclusion, but only in a limited context. Rather, it is when these initiatives are used together in a synergistic manner that we have a powerful catalyst for systemic, if not societal change. Some schools and communities are beginning to do this through using inclusive sports, often in the context of the Special Olympics Unified Champion School® program, as an avenue to create larger, schoolwide change. In the process, they convert inclusive thinking into inclusive behavior.

These schoolwide transformations have typically started with implementation of inclusive or Unified sports or physical education programs. Such efforts are often initiated on the basis of the passion of a single teacher, parent, or student. The environment that is created provides a safe, accepting place for young people to be themselves. As others within the school community observe young adults with diverse abilities working together to achieve a common goal, thinking begins to change and people start asking themselves whether an inclusive approach might work in other contexts. This is a point where many schools evolve from supporting Unified sports teams to hosting other inclusive activities be they additional components of the Unified Program (e.g., Inclusive Youth Leadership) and/or exploring how inclusive approaches might be infused into additional academic subject areas.

Following the successful implementation of Unified/ inclusive sports, we have seen previously segregated high schools develop Unified theater, dance, art, and social studies, and service-learning courses. The addition of inclusive academic classes not only broadens the opportunities of students with and without disabilities to work together, but expands the number of teachers, administrators, and other school personnel who can potentially support and serve as resources for inclusivity. This makes possible the multi-level change needed for school-communities to create the inclusive spaces necessary to transform a school from one in which ableism is widespread and youth with IDD are stigmatized and shunned to a culture in which students with diverse abilities are included.

How far do we have to go? Based on available evidence, the number of schools meeting the benchmark for full inclusion (80% of students spending greater than 80% of their school day in general education classes) is estimated to be in the low hundreds nationally. Despite increasing interest, inclusive sports remain insufficiently integrated into educational systems and critical gaps persist in understanding their impact and mechanisms of action. With 130,000 K–12 schools nationwide the Unified program's reach of 10,000 schools (SONA, 2025) means the program currently operates in approximately 7.7% of educational settings. Although a meaningful footprint, it is also a sign of how far we still need to go. Full inclusion, at least at a school-wide level, remains an aspirational goal for the education system, not a widespread reality. This underscores just how significant and impactful inclusive sports and inclusive programs like Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools are in moving the needle forward toward genuine inclusion.

When we build sports and academic programs where every child and young adult is viewed as belonging, we do not just change a sport or school—we change what is possible. For young adults with IDD, inclusive sports and classrooms are not just accommodations. They are invitations to discover strengths, build friendships, take on challenges, and create a society in which diversity, in all of its forms including disability, is viewed as adding to the richness of life. To some people, this might be viewed as an unrealistic dream, a goal that will never be achieved or only attained at some point far into the future. However, one must also consider the words of Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of The Secret Garden, who stated that…

At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done—then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago.”