Wheelchair basketball player Terry Bywater and wheelchair athlete Lucy Shuker. Picture: ParalympicsGB/imagecomms
THE spectacular Paris Paralympics showed the world just what disabled people can achieve.
But the sad truth is what we witnessed in the French capital was a far cry from what is actually going on for the millions of disabled people in Britain.
National charity Sense’s new research highlights the “shocking neglect” of disabled people’s health in the UK.
According to Sense, four in five people with complex disabilities are at increased risk of illness due to lack of exercise.
In a poll of more than 1,000 disabled people, nearly half said they would like to be more active, but are prevented due to societal barriers, such as inaccessible venues and a lack of trained staff.
Greg Whyte, former Olympian and Professor of Applied Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moore’s University, said: “The health of people with complex disabilities is being shockingly neglected.
“It’s indefensible that four out of five are not active enough to be healthy and the barriers stopping them, like inaccessible exercise venues or a lack of trained coaching staff, are completely unacceptable.
“What we are seeing is quite simply mass disability neglect at a time we are focused on elite disability sport. It would appear that authorities are pretending to care without a strategy to ensure that sport is truly for all.
Huge benefits
“Simple changes, like training staff, fitting ramps or improving transport, could have a profoundly positive effect on disabled people’s physical health and resistance to illnesses like heart disease, cancer, diabetes and stroke.
“There are huge mental, emotional and social health benefits too, leading to improved quality of life.
“And by reducing pressure and costs to the NHS and social care, the whole of society will benefit.”
The poll reveals four in five do less than 150 minutes of physical activity a week, with more than a third getting less than 30 minutes.
The NHS recommends adults aged 19 to 64 get at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week to help maintain physical and mental health, with those doing less than 30 minutes classed as “inactive”.
The results mean around 1.3 million people with complex disabilities in the UK are not active enough to be healthy.
Alissa Ayling, head of Sense’s sport and physical activity programme, said: “Disabled people experience many barriers to exercising, from inaccessible sports venues and transport to a lack of an upskilled workforce and closures of local facilities. But if there’s enough determination to break down the barriers, it will happen.”
