It's been five years since Sport NZ launched the Disability Plan to address inequities for disabled people in play, active recreation and sport. Today we released a report sharing the progress Sport NZ and the sector have made towards increasing quality opportunities and experiences for disabled tamariki and rangatahi.

As part of the Disability Plan, Sport NZ made ten commitments centred on three priorities: working in partnership, investing to create better quality experiences, and building system-wide capability. The report shows actions we’ve taken to deliver on these commitments and enable positive change across the sector.

The report also includes the latest insights from several years of data about disabled people’s experiences in play, active recreation and sport, as well as the sector's confidence and capability in meeting their needs.

These insights show that we're taking definitive steps towards becoming a more inclusive sector – more organisations are providing adapted activities, inclusion training, accessible facilities, and tailored events and programmes than ever before. However, more work is needed to create better experiences for disabled people, as they continue to participate less often and have poorer experiences than their non-disabled peers.

There have been many highlights over the last five years. There are countless examples of sector organisations around the country working together and offering new, different, and better opportunities to ensure disabled people aren't missing out, many of which you can read about in the report.

We are making progress, but our collective efforts must continue if we want to see measurable change into the future. Through Sport NZ’s 2024-2028 Strategy, we're committed to supporting the sector to provide quality opportunities and experiences for disabled people, so that we can achieve the vision we all want to see – a New Zealand where everyone enjoys the benefits of being active. 

Accessible alternate formats of the report are currently underway and will be available shortly.