Barriers to physical activity among adolescents with mobility disabilities: Findings from the Health and Lifestyle Teens with Disabilities Study

Youth with mobility disabilities are less likely to participate in physical activity compared to non-disabled youth because of environmental, architectural, and programmatic barriers that hinder their access to physical activity opportunities. Extracting data from an ongoing national survey addressing the health status of adolescents with disabilities(N=540), the present study examined programmatic and transportation barriers associated with physical activity participation of adolescents with mobility disabilities (e.g., cerebral palsy, spina bifida, brain injury, muscular dystrophy, and limb loss). In the programmatic domain, existing programs available at sports/recreation venues were “slightly” (25.6%) or “not at all” (10.6%) accessible to adolescents with mobility disabilities. For sixty percent of adolescents with mobility disabilities, there were “no” programs in which they could participate at their closest park district or community center. In the transportation domain, 82.5% of the adolescents could not travel independently; 73.8% “always” needed special transportation due to their disability; and only 39.1% reported that a ride is “always” available to take them to sports or other physical activities. Future research should emphasize the removal of barriers focusing on these two domains, in addition to other domains in which barriers may exist such as socioeconomic (i.e., cost, culture), psychological (i.e., motivation, perceptions and attitudes) or structural (i.e., built environment, accessible equipment and facilities). This study is supported by Grant No. H133A060066 from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.