Inclusive Universities: attitudes towards disability and enjoyment in an adapted sports program

Abstract

It is essential that future teachersconsider the type of inclusive PhysicalEducation that they want to teach to students,conceiving the potential it has in affective,motivational and social insertion aspects. Theobjective of the present study was to analyzethe attitudes of university students towardsstudents with intellectual disabilities andthe enjoyment of university students afterthe implementation of an adapted sportsprogram. 47 students participated, of which23 were students of the Physical Educationmajor in the Primary Education degree, and24 were students of a Program for socio-laborinsertion for people with mild and moderateintellectual disabilities. The instrumentsused were the Inventory of Attitudes towardsPeople with Disabilities (IAPD) and thePhysical Activity Enjoyment MeasurementScale (PACES). A single-group retrospectiveex post facto design was planned. Theresults showed that, at older ages, universitystudents presented more positive feelings andemotions and greater support and acceptancetowards people with disabilities. However, theage of the university students was negativelyrelated to the perception of autonomy as wellas the integration of people with intellectualdisabilities. Regarding the variable enjoymentof physical activity, it was negatively correlatedwith the age of the university students,although a very weak and non-significanttrend was observed. The results of the presentstudy suggest that the more contact withpeople with disabilities at early stages, such asuniversity, would improve attitudes towardsdisability and enjoyment of inclusive practice.