Vol. 1 No. 1, February 2022

Achieving Social Inclusion and Quality of Life for Persons with Intellectual Disability Through Sports and Physical Activity

Gboyega Edward Babalola, Boluwaji G. Jaiyesimi

Abstract

Every child is born with expectation of living and fulfilling life’s expectancy. The ‘quality of life’ approach focuses on
what is most important to every individual. However, each child is born with different challenges and peculiarity in the
area of intellectual capacity. The condition could be present at birth, as a congenital abnormality. An individual may be
physically fit, with no brain or body abnormalities and yet be mentally disabled. The terms ‘mild’, ‘moderate’, ‘severe’ and
‘profound’ are often used to classify intellectual disability. In view of this, it has been observed that poor motor control,
high physical demand, fear of accident and social exclusion could limit the involvement of persons with intellectual
disability in activities related to sports or physical activity. Therefore, it is needful to achieve social inclusion and quality
of life for persons with intellectual disability through sports and physical activity.

Keywords

social inclusion, quality of life, intellectual disability, sports, physical activity

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