Our Approach
We build the capability of sport to enable the meaningful participation of people with disability.
We do this by working across the sport system, creating the conditions for more people with disability to take part in sport.
How We Think About Participation
We work across all sport and all disability. Our focus is on the barriers to participation, not on categorising people by their disability.
Our work is guided by the Social Model of Disability, which recognises that systems and environments must change to enable participation.
We support both disability-specific sport and mainstream sport, so people can choose how they take part based on their needs and goals.
Lived experience informs our work, so our programs and partnerships reflect real community needs.
All our programs are free for participants, so cost is never a barrier to getting involved.
How We Build Participation
Create Opportunities
Local opportunities for people with disability to try, take part and stay involved in sport.
Build Capability
Giving clubs and coaches the tools and confidence to support people with disability to take part in sport.
Improve Systems
Improving how sport works through lived experience, evidence and advocacy, so more people with disability take part.
Increase Visibility
Increasing representation so participation by people with disability is visible and valued in sport.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Positive First Experiences
Programs such as Abilities Unleashed and Try Para Sport connect people with disability to local opportunities in supportive environments.
Building Capability
We provide practical training and resources that support clubs and organisations to include people with disability with confidence. More than 1,400 people have completed our Accessibility Champion course.
Shifting Awareness
Through national campaigns such as Changing Lives Through Sport, we promote awareness of disability sport and increase the visibility of participation by people with disability.
Finding a Place in Sport
We help people understand their options and connect with sport in ways that reflect their interests and goals.
Why This Matters
People with disability face barriers the system creates, not barriers of ability or interest.
Participation rates remain significantly lower than for people without disability.
That gap is why our approach starts with the system, the facilities, the programs, the awareness and the people who run sport, rather than with the individual.
Our History
For more than 65 years the organisations that became Disability Sports Australia have worked to increase participation in sport.
Our history spans wheelchair sport, amputee and locomotor disability sport, and cerebral palsy sport, three distinct movements that came together to form one national organisation.
Today we work across all disability and all sport, building the systems and capability that make participation possible.
Our Strategic Plan
Participation happens locally, but it depends on capability across the entire sport system.
Through our Strategic Plan, we work with clubs, sporting organisations, governments and partners to create opportunities, build capability, improve systems and increase visibility for people with disability.
See the results of this approach
Each year we connect thousands of people with disability to sport and reach over one million Australians through national campaigns.
3,309
People with disability took part in sport through Abilities Unleashed.
53
Local events connected people with disability to sport in their own communities across the country.
1.19 million
Australians reached through our Changing Lives Through Sport national campaign.
Partnerships That Grow Disability Sport
Our approach is made possible through partnership.
We work with organisations across sport, government and industry to build the capability of sport and expand participation opportunities for people with disability.
Partner with Disability Sports Australia to help shape a sport system where people with disability can take part in the way that works for them.
