TY - JOUR T1 - Optimising health equity through para sport JF - British Journal of Sports Medicine JO - Br J Sports Med SP - 131 LP - 132 DO - 10.1136/bjsports-2022-106229 VL - 57 IS - 3 AU - Kristina Fagher AU - Stephanie DeLuca AU - Wayne Derman AU - Cheri Blauwet Y1 - 2023/02/01 UR - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/57/3/131.abstract N2 - Nearly one in five of the world’s population lives with a disability.1 While physical activity, including sports participation, is important for all, people with disabilities are at inherent risk for low engagement with a consequential increased risk for chronic disease related to a sedentary lifestyle. These include cardiometabolic disease and mental health conditions.2 Persons with a disability are 16%–62% less likely to meet physical activity guidelines.3 Barriers to sports participation include poor knowledge of para sport (eg, which sports are available, how to find opportunities or train), lack of social support, poor accessibility to training facilities, lack of equipment and the devaluation of para sport across society4 (figure 1). An additional concern is the inequity in financial support for para sport, especially in low-resourced environments. Even in high-income countries, para sport is often underfunded in comparison to elite sport for athletes with no disability, and data have shown that Paralympic athletes do not have the same opportunities as Olympic athletes.5 This inequity begins early in life given that children with a disability are often excluded from physical education sessions or marginalised within the school sports system.6 This editorial aims to promote health equity through para sport by highlighting such health disparities for the Sports and Exercise Medicine (SEM) community.Figure 1 Key summary points.Physical activity and sports participation lead to several benefits in the general population, including improvements in physical and mental health, the development … ER -