The reality of sporting dreams for young disabled people (April 2025)
At Activity Alliance and Women in Sport we believe sport has the power to transform young people’s lives. This research report builds on Women in Sport’s Chasing the Olympic Dream study and explores young people’s perceptions of the Paralympic Games and if young disabled people – especially girls – feel inspired, included, and supported in sport and physical activity.
The Summer Paralympic Games took place in Paris between August and September 2024. The survey was conducted by Savanta in October 2024 and 949 disabled and 1,460 non-disabled young people aged between 13 and 24 years old took part.
The insight and recommendations from this report are vital to increasing our understanding of the impact of gender and disability on young people’s experiences and needs.
Key findings
- The Paralympics inspired two-thirds of young disabled people to want to be more active and try a new sport or activity, yet many face barriers like not knowing where to find opportunities, cost, and lack of support.
- Young disabled people are 6% less likely to dream about becoming a top athlete or sportsperson compared to their non-disabled peers (46% vs 52%). However, a much wider gender dream deficit of 25% is evident, with disabled and non-disabled girls far less likely to dream compared to their male peers (36% disabled girls vs 61% disabled boys; 39% non-disabled girls vs 64% non-disabled boys).
- Six in ten young disabled people want more opportunities to take part in sports but practical (e.g. lack of local opportunities, funding, support) and psychological barriers (e.g. self-doubt, fear of judgment, safety) prevent them.
- Mental health is the strongest motivator for young disabled people to be active. Improved mental health is a stronger motivator for disabled girls than disabled boys (43% vs 36%).
- Disabled girls are the least likely to engage in and feel like sport is for them (65%), with one in five saying they don’t see people like them in sport.
- Young non-disabled people are more likely than their disabled peers to feel the Paralympics improves perceptions of disability in sport, revealing a disconnect between perception and lived experience.
- Disabled boys are more likely to experience negative feelings towards the Paralympics than disabled girls, such as feelings of inadequacy (45% vs 23%) and believing the Paralympics creates unrealistic expectations for disabled people (47% vs 30%).
Recommendations
To create a more equal sporting environment for disabled girls Activity Alliance and Women in Sport are calling for:
- Inclusive opportunities in school and community sport to meet the needs of disabled girls.
- Increased education to upskill the sport sector in inclusive activity delivery and to challenge gender stereotypes.
- Improved and increased representation of disabled female athletes in media and leadership roles.
- Ongoing collaboration across the sport sector to create meaningful, systemic change in sport and wider society.
Accessible formats
Here, you will find the a summary of the research key findings and recomendations in Easy Read format and a British Sign Language translation video with subtitles and a voiceover.
A game of inequality: The reality of sporting dreams for young disabled people (Easy Read document)
This document is also available in Word format. Please contact us if you need more support. Email info@activityalliance.org.uk or call 0808 175 6991.
Report published in April 2025. Please contact our research team for more information about this report. Email the research team or call 0808 175 6991.
