Disability and Physical Activity

There are 14.1 million disabled people in the UK(1 in 5 people), and those born with a long-term health condition or who classify themselves as disabled are twice as likely to be physically inactive.

Gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres can play a large part in disabled people’s activity levels, and they provide an opportunity to improve millions of lives.

The physical activity sector has an essential role in narrowing the disparities and inequalities faced by disabled people today. ukactive’s vision is to develop a sector that is freely accessed and utilised by all, enabling everyone to be active and participate in whatever capacity they wish.

What is Everyone Can?

Everyone Can is an ongoing agenda from ukactive and supported by Sport England to set a collaborative tone for inclusivity and accessibility across physical activity. As the sector’s trade body, we are uniquely placed to deliver on this, drawing on our partnerships to raise awareness; our relationship with the disability sector for true collaboration; and ability to convene operators and suppliers to share learnings and evidence.

As part of these ambitions, and recognising the disparity in activity levels, we have undertaken a series of sector-wide consultations to examine the physical activity landscape for disabled people. Our sector wants to continue to improve the standards for disabled people in every community – please click below to sign up for updates and to access:

1. The Everyone Can factsheet
2. An evidence review of the current barriers and facilitators of disabled people’s engagement with gyms, fitness and leisure centres.
3. A report on how the sector collects and utilises data relating to disabled people: Understanding the participation of disabled people at gyms, fitness and leisure facilities through data capture.
4. The ‘Supporting the physical activity sector’ directory of key disability organisations, and their work to support gyms, fitness and leisure centres.
5. The results and report from a consumer poll of 1500 disabled people: The Experiences and expectations of the 1 in 5, making physical activity accessible and welcoming for all.
6. EmployAbility Guides – information on these resources to support and create more accessible and inclusive training and workplaces for disabled people in the sector.

ukactive will continue to improve the accessibility of its digital  content. Should you require any further assistance in downloading the Everyone Can resources and insight, please contact inclusion@ukactive.org.uk or 0208 1589700