Disability and Impairment

This year, 116,038 pupils from 1,000 schools in Wales took part in the 2022 Sport Wales School Sport Survey. This document shares the data by disability/impairment, highlighting key figures and patterns. 

We’ve structured this around the Vision for Sport in Wales: ‘An active nation where everyone can have a lifelong enjoyment of sport’. We want as many people as possible to be inspired to be active through sport, where everyone feels able to take part no matter their sporting background, in a sporting landscape that responds to the needs of people at different stages of their life, to create a wide range of positive experiences. 

Active Nation 

The Vision for Sport in Wales is to create an active nation. We want as many people as possible to be inspired to be active through sport. This section explores participation by frequency, setting and sports.

• Pupils with no disability or impairment are more likely to participate in organised sport outside of the curriculum three or more times a week (Future Generations Indicator 38) than pupils with a disability or impairment. 40% of pupils with no disability or impairment participate three or more times a week, compared to 35% of pupils with a disability or impairment. 
• Pupils without a disability or impairment are more likely than pupils with a disability or impairment to participate in community club sport at least once a week. 57% of pupils without a disability or impairment participate in a sport in a community club at least once a week, compared to 47% of pupils with a disability or impairment. 
• The top three sports that pupils with a disability or impairment participate in at least once a week in a community club are football, swimming, and rugby. 

Everyone 

The Vision is for everyone. From people who don’t see themselves as sporty to people who win medals, across all demographics. This section explores participation within Regional Sport Partnerships. 

Table 1: The percentage of pupils with and without a disability or impairment who participate in sport three or more times per week, by Regional Sport Partnership area.

Lifelong 

The Vision is for life. It responds to the needs of people at different stages of their life. This section explores demand and motivators/enablers to do more sport. 

• 59% of pupils with a disability or impairment have unmet demand for sport, compared to 55% of pupils without a disability or impairment.
• The top three sports in demand for pupils with a disability or impairment are swimming, basketball and cycling. 
• Pupils without a disability or impairment are more likely to think that PE lessons and sport help them to have a healthy lifestyle ‘a lot’ than pupils with a disability or impairment. 52% of pupils without a disability or impairment think that PE lessons and sport help them to have a healthy lifestyle ‘a lot’, compared to 47% of pupils with a disability or impairment.
• The 2022 School Sport Survey asked pupils to select responses to the question ‘I would do more sport if…’. The top three selected responses from pupils with a disability or impairment are: ‘If there were more sport opportunities that suited me’, ‘If I had more time’ and ‘If I was more confident’. 

Footnote: Unmet demand refers to those who do not participate in sport three or more times a week, yet have a demand to do more sport

Enjoyment 

The Vision focuses on creating a wide range of positive experiences so everyone can enjoy sport. This section explores enjoyment of sport in PE, extracurricular clubs and community clubs.  

• Across settings, pupils without a disability or impairment are more likely to enjoy sport ‘a lot’ than pupils with a disability or impairment. 

Table 2: Enjoyment of sport in different settings, by disability/impairment.