Six out of every ten children with disabilities feel excluded from physical education classes in schools, and less than three in every ten find it easy to take part in physical activities at all.

These are among the distressing figures from Active Disability Ireland’s Youth Survey 2023, released today ahead of this month’s National Seminar of Inclusion and the launch of Active Disability Ireland’s new youth forum.

Top line findings from the Active Disability Ireland’s Youth Survey show:

• Almost 70% of children with disabilities enjoy taking part in sport and physical activity
• Only 27.4% find it easy to take part in physical activity
• Only 31.5% feel confident during PE
• Just 38.6% agreed with the statement “I feel included in PE”

Asked why they feel excluded, the children listed a range of reasons including lack of opportunities (56.1%); lack of confidence in their abilities (43.8%); and having no-one to enjoy games with (36.9%).

Parents, meanwhile, expressed their worries that their children don’t do enough activity – with 65.1% stating that they find it difficult to get their children involved and only 25.5% of parents feeling they have enough support to facilitate their child to be active.

More than half of all parents blamed a lack of suitable places or facilities (58.1%), with a significant proportion (41.8%) mentioning lack of support or understanding from people working in sport.

Creating opportunities and choice for people with disabilities to be physically active will be the key topic of discussion at this year National Seminar of Inclusion hosted by Active Disability Ireland on the 29th of November in the Midlands Park Hotel in Portlaoise.

Active Disability Ireland, the national advocate organisation for sport and physical activity inclusion will, in association with Sport Ireland, present an exciting line up of speakers in their first in-person event following the pandemic and also the first since the rebrand from CARA.

The event, supporting International Day of People with Disabilities, will also provide a launchpad for Active Disability Ireland’s first-ever youth forum, giving a voice to young people with disabilities to ask organisations to do all they can to ensure they have the choice and opportunities that they deserve.

National guests and key individuals in the sport, health, community and disability sectors will take part in discussions about the importance of creating opportunities for people with disabilities to get involved in sport and physical activity, and also to understand the impact that small changes can have on making these opportunities a reality.

The seminar will celebrate the five-year anniversary of Active Disability Ireland’s Sports Inclusion Disability Charter, now with 2,000 signatories among Ireland’s sporting and leisure organisations.

“We have seen a huge growth and interest over the last five years since the launch of the Charter and have seen how organisations have begun to take a more cultural approach to the whole area of inclusion of people with disabilities, resulting in more awareness of what needs to be done, but also more opportunities created for people with disabilities,” said Brenda O’Donnell, Interim CEO of Active Disability Ireland.

The seminar’s keynote speaker is Fergus Farrell, of the Toughest Trek, joining fresh from the challenge of running five marathons in four days to support the National Rehabilitation Hospital Spinal Programme – a unit he knows all too well.

Five years ago, Fergus suffered a severe spinal cord injury when lifting a bench at work – a simple, split-second action which left him completely paralysed from his waist down.

He spent seven months in hospital, four of those in the NRH. He was told he’d never walk again.

Since then, however, fuelled by courage and determination he has walked across the country from Athenry to the NRH (206kms over five days), arriving into the NRH just one year after his accident and raising €70,000 for the NRH Foundation; Rowed 1000kms across the North Atlantic Ocean, this time raising €15,000 for the NRH; and run five marathons in four days from Athenry to NRH, raising €10,000 so far.

“We are honoured to have Fergus as our keynote speaker, and we are excited to learn more about the significance and impact of the opportunities and choices he has had in his life,” added Brian O’Callaghan Chairperson of Active Disability Ireland.

At the seminar, guest Speaker Johnny Quaid, now an Active Disability Ireland ambassador, will also give a personal account of his experiences of growing up with a disability.

Offering people with disabilities the widest range of opportunities is a matter of concern for all – with the 2022 Census showing that over 1.1 million people (22% of the population) having experienced at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty.

Remaining seminar tickets are available here: Seminar Tickets