The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #47179

William J. Schiller, PhD, National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD), University of Illinois at Chicago, 1640 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL 60608-6904, 312-413-1536, wjschill@uic.edu

The focus of this presentation is on building active networks of practical knowledge and experience in promoting and maintaining community-based physical activity programs for people with disabilities. While important research efforts are underway to develop instruments for assessing the barriers to participation in physical activity programs faced by people with disabilities, there are people and organizations throughout the nation already delivering grass-roots health promotion through a variety of local physical activity programs for people with disabilities. Such programs may receive some local or even national attention through news stories, but there is no systematic way of organizing these scattered resources into an effective force for change. The National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD) has been gathering information for more than three years on programs and facilities supporting physical activity, recreation, and leisure programs for people with disabilities. The current project expands upon this resource directory through an active outreach program that identifies successful community efforts at promoting increased physical activity for people with disabilities, promoting these efforts on the NCPAD website, and serving as the networking agent to link persons developing programs with persons who are currently offering programs. Exemplary programs, evaluation criteria, and outcome analyses will be presented.

Learning Objectives:

• List a variety of strategies that have proven successful in promoting and maintaining increased physical activity for people with disabilities.
• Identify the types of community partnerships that are required to overcome barriers which impede participation of people with disabilities face in community-based physical activity programs.
• Recognize the potential benefits of establishing an infrastructure to promote networking of existing community groups for knowledge sharing and problem solving in promoting increased physical activity by people with disabilities.

Keywords: Disability, Physical Activity

Related Web page: www.ncpad.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.