The Effect of the Special Olympics’ Unified Program upon the Attitudes towards Inclusion of Students with Intellectual Disabilities in Greece

Listening to Stakeholders’ Voices on Funding Social Inclusion in Sport for People with Disabilities—Proposal for Criteria

“…They emphasized factors such as the number of athletes, particularly focusing on young participants and their regularity of involvement (e.g., training hours and opportunities), the ratio of participants to coaches, the level of disability and specific technological or installation requirements, the frequency and quality of public events and media engagement, and the program’s connection with the community. Interestingly, all groups highlighted the importance of focusing on young athletes, aligning with the literature suggesting that younger individuals with disabilities who engage in sport with their nondisabled peers at an earlier age are more likely to reduce participation gaps [ 24 , 42 ].…”

“…For instance, for individuals with intellectual disabilities, the lack of professionals with appropriate training serves as a barrier to their participation in physical activities [ 6 , 38 ]; moreover, parents recognize a lack of awareness or knowledge among coaches regarding the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in sport and their adaptation of current sporting models to accommodate their needs [ 35 , 36 , 41 ]. Coach education and positive past inclusion experiences predict future involvement [ 32 ], showing that training opportunities can develop positive attitudes, disability-related knowledge, and interaction skills [ 20 , 42 ].…”

Narrowing the Definition of Social Inclusion in Sport for People with Disabilities through a Scoping Review

“…Research has shown that contact with people with disabilities may be the most important measure to promote the formation of positive attitudes towards the inclusion of people with disabilities [ 8 , 29 , 39 , 63 ]. Increased awareness has helped to establish accessible sports facilities and organized sport programs for people with disabilities, and this has been shown to reduce marginalization [ 8 ].…”

“…For example, using keywords in Google Scholar such as disability or impairment, children and youth, sports clubs, sport, or organized sport and inclusion, approximately 13,100 reviewed articles were found in the databases over the last ten years [ 28 ]. Our review found a wide variety of methods for studying the topic of sport inclusion of people with disabilities, using questionnaires [ 12 , 24 , 29 ] and/or structured, semi-structured interviews or narrative inquiry [ 11 , 24 , 25 , 30 ], Moreover, a confirmatory questionnaire was created to assess the involvement in sport, with an analysis based on theoretical foundations such as the social model of disability, the definition of abilities, the nature of social inclusion/exclusion, sources of motivation, the form of social support, the theory of planned behavior, DeLuca’s four conceptions of inclusion [ 31 ], the block model of empowerment, and social field theory [ 8 , 11 , 13 , 24 , 28 , 29 ].…”

“…The research also identifies the perceptions of parents, coaches, disabled people, athletes with disabilities, other partners in sport, management of voluntary clubs, sports organizations responsible for policy, and other groups at risk of social exclusion in European and global countries such as Serbia, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, England, the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, Africa, the USA, and Asia [ 8 , 11 , 13 , 24 , 25 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”