An analysis of people with disabilities in Australia by age, sex, disability type and severity - Implications for leveraging the 2032 Paralympic games to increase physical activity participation.

Objectives: Australia's bid for the 2032 Paralympic Games included a commitment to increasing sport participation among people with disabilities by 500,000. Realising this legacy will require an accurate understanding of the composition of the Australian disability population - age, sex, disability type and disability severity - as well as current Para sport participation rates. Design and methods: Collation and synthesis of publicly available data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Para sport master lists. Results: Among 4.37M Australians with disability, 44.5 ​% were aged ≥65 ​yrs. Of those aged <65 ​yrs, the maximum population that could be eligible for Para sport comprise 529,800 with intellectual disability, 85,900 with sight loss, and 802,000 with physical disability. Many high-prevalence disability types are not eligible for Para sport (e.g., hearing loss ​= ​1.07M; psychosocial disability ​= ​1.14M) and sport may not be appropriate for other types (e.g., chronic pain/discomfort ​= ​1.46M). Compared with others with disability, those with severe/profound disabilities are least active (17.4 ​% meet physical activity guidelines) and underrepresented in sport (3.2 ​% of Para athletes with physical impairment have high support needs). Conclusions: Increasing participation in any form of physical activity - including Para sports and other sports - by 500,000 would be a more achievable and inclusive legacy goal than increasing sports participation alone. Such an approach would cater for high-prevalence disability groups for whom commencement of competitive sport may not be suitable (e.g., >65 ​yrs, chronic pain). To permit safe, effective engagement in sport/physical activity for individuals with severe impairments and high support needs, investment in development and implementation of specialised, evidence-based programs is required.