Examining Campus Recreation and Sports Experiences of College Students with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities (IDD) and Attitudes of College Students Without IDD: A Special Olympics Unified Sports® Study

Abstract

Recreation and sports participation can produce social health benefits for college students with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD). Despite growing numbers of college students with IDD on college campuses, literature exploring inclusion within campus recreation and sports is limited. To understand how students with IDD have been, desire to be, and can be meaningfully included in campus recreation and sports, experiences of students with IDD (N = 33), and the experiences and attitudes of students without IDD (N = 260) were examined. A mixed methods study design, including web-based surveys and semi-structured interviews, was used to collect data from participants at three American universities. Results of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and thematic analysis revealed a critical need to examine these students’ inclusion within campus life at large.