Recreational Facility Use for Disabled Persons

Recreational facilities, public or university owned, are getting increased attention in communities with the increase in technology making our lives more sedentary and less reliable on our physical self. In fact, a 2014 study found that 90% of students in college admitted campus recreation facilities and programs influenced them in being healthy and continuing to do so upon graduating.2 Public recreational facilities often house the needs of the general community population who are not in college and/or choose not to use other gyms, while campus recreational facilities cater to mainly students, graduate students, faculty and staff, alumni, spouses, retirees, and others at the director’s discretion.

One thing that isn’t often seen at these facilities is the presence of disabled patrons. A disability is often referred to when a person’s movement or senses are impaired. Facilities are in code with the ADA, but lack memberships from the disabled population. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 56.7 million people (19% of the total population) in the United States admitted to having a disability.1 It would be interesting to see facilities and gyms advertising that they accept members of all abilities. Since the United States population consists of of a 5:1 ratio of non-disabled to disabled, this could end up bringing an extra income in at the end of the fiscal year. For example, of a city with a population of 100,000, 20,000 of the population would have a disability. If a recreation facility was able to lure in just 1% (200 disabled persons) of that disable population at an average of $350 per annual membership, would bring in an extra $70,000 gross.

Although the future research needs to be done to determine the personal and environmental factors that have the strongest association with participation or nonparticipation in physical activity3, it is for certain that all persons, disabled or not, need to have some sort of physical activity in their life.

1"Nearly 1 in 5 People Have a Disability in the U.S., Census Bureau Reports." United States Census Bureau. Robert Bernstein, 25 July 2012. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.

2Forrester, S. (2014). The Benefits of Campus Recreation. Corvallis, OR: NIRSA.

3Rimmer, J. H., Riley, B., Wang, E., Rauworth, A., & Jurkowski, J. (2004). Research article: Physical activity participation among persons with disabilities barriers and facilitators. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 26(5), 419-425.