Familiarity of Adapted Physical Activity Among Undergraduate Students: Personal Connection Matters

The field of adapted physical activity (APA) and other areas often associated with APA focused on physical activity for people with disabilities, such as adapted physical education (APE) and disability sports (DS), is often marginalized and misunderstood. Little attention has been given to subsets of the general population’s familiarity of this field and related areas. The purpose of this study was to examine college students’ awareness of APA terminology and related organizations. Undergraduate college students ( n = 995) completed a survey on their familiarity of APA terminology (APE, DS, and therapeutic recreation [TR]) and related organizations (Paralympics [PL], and Special Olympics [SO]). Students were most familiar with SO, DS, and PL. Familiarity with these terms and organizations, except for TR, were positively associated with being comfortable with people with disabilities ( p < .01). Students who reported having a close connection to a person with a disability were significantly more familiar with DS and SO ( p = .001). Students with personal connections to people with disabilities appeared to be more aware of APA-related professions and associations. As future leaders, college students can influence the direction of future public policies and resources; thus, because these findings suggests that college students lack the basic familiarity with many APA-related areas, this insinuates that these areas may suffer from a lack of support policies and resources needed to flourish. Further research is needed to fully understand the relationships college students have with people with disabilities and how these may have more awareness of APA-related professions and associations.