Susan O. Gray, BS, Office of Disability and Health, NM Department of Health, PO Box 26110, Santa Fe, NM 87502-6110, 505-827-2976, susang@doh.state.nm.us and Anthony G Cahill, PhD, Center for Development and Disability, University of New Mexico, 2300 Menaul Boulevard NE, Albuquerque, NM 87107.

Community sponsored physical activity interventions should be available to all community members, including those with mobility limitations, but many community environments do not support this availability. People with disabilities, being people first, are part of the larger community of people before being categorized as “with disabilities” and many want to participate along with other people in health promotion activities.

In an effort to combat the growing overweight/obesity “epidemic” in the country, many communities favor walking programs as a physical activity intervention of choice because they are easy to market, easy to implement and effective. They may be all these things, but they also inadvertently miss the 45,000,00+ people with mobility limitations, for many of whom walking may not be an appropriate activity.

The answer to inclusive physical activity programming lies in bolstering the environmental factors of accessibility, and here physical accessibility is not necessarily first. Social accessibility and programmatic accessibility to interventions are more important, because if interventions were not available because of attitudes and programmatic restrictions, the presence or absence of adaptive equipment would be moot.

The session would examine the issues of social and programmatic accessibility to physical activity programs and introduce ways to achieve access with actual examples.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants would be able to

• Evaluate the social, programmatic and physical accessibility barriers of community interventions, and
• Be able to articulate ways to overcome those barriers, thereby providing access for people with mobility limitations.

Keywords: Disability,

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.