Special needs are various difficulties such as ad physical, emotional, behavioral, or learning impairment or disability, causing an individual to require additional or specialized services or accommodations such as reaction or education. These needs are not the same for everybody, and they are different from one person to another. Although all people with special needs are not the same, they have the same rights. Disability rights support them all. There are four main types of special needs among people with physical impairments:
- Physical
Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Asthma, and Epilepsy, etc.
- Developmental
Down Syndrome, Autism, Dyslexia, Processing Disorders
- Behavioral/ Emotional
ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder
- Sensory Impaired
Blindness, visually impaired, Deafness or Hearing-impaired
Sports benefits to people with special needs
Increasing self-confidence
Many people with physical impairments lock themselves at home because of their conditions. They feel shame that they are different somehow, and this feeling makes them isolated from other people. But the fact is that they make a big mistake. They don’t know how important they can be in their society and their community. They can play a significant role in their life. Playing sports helps those shy people with special needs to take part in groups and see how important they are.
Make body strong
special needs
Strong muscles secure your bones. The best way to make the muscles strong is to do exercises. Strong muscles never let the bones break easily. Doing exercises help to better blood circulation, increase body immunity, decrease Hypertension, and control weight. There are special exercises for people with special needs, which is unique for individuals.
Keep the body in shape.
Everybody loves to have a body that is in shape. Keeping a body in shape and fit is not very easy. It needs time and energy to lose weight. Many sports help people with special needs to look in shape and fit. When someone cares about body fitness, they care about the diet and the amount of protein, carbohydrate, and the other nutrition they take.
Improving social skills
They are working with a team, and other teammates teach people how to be in groups and behave as a teammate. Social skills such as communication, critical thinking, empathy, sympathy, forgiveness, active listening, and other social skills can be learned in teams. So, doing sports, among other teammates, can teach a lot to people with special needs.
Reducing the risk of disease
When the body is immune enough, the risk of disease is not so much. A healthy body always fights with conditions and try to keep us safe. Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Cold, Blood pressure, Hypertension, stroke, muscles cramp, osteoporosis, and many other diseases can be reduced.
The benefits of sports and parasports are not limited in these five points. There are lots of gifts out there. Life with sports is delightful.
Appropriate Sports for people with special needs
Among the suitable exercises for people with special needs, the following can be mentioned:
A sport which is designed for athletes with disabilities and balance impairments
A sport for athletes with cerebral palsy or other neurological disorders
The other name is Sound Ball, a game of tennis designed for the blind or visually impaired people.
A sport for blind or visually impaired people with a sound ball with two teams in two sets, the role is like regular football with little changes. The duration of each half is 25 minutes.
- Crolf/ Krolf
This game is a mixture of Croquet and Golf, played at a reactional level by people of all ages.
A sport playing on the grass with mallets and balls made of wood or plastic, and every player has their ball. The game’s goal is hitting the ball through the course of nine hoops, using a few strokes as possible.
A game with the same dimensions as the Volleyball court in which the duration is 24 minutes in two parts of 12 minutes. It has two teams, and each team consists of 6 players.
A sport of boules category in which players or teams play their boules/balls toward a target ball.
- Polybat
A bat and ball and table tennis! The game is designed especially for people with disabilities.
This sport is popular among power wheelchair users worldwide, which is a game between two teams, and each team consists of 4 players.
This sport is for visually impaired people, which can be played recreationally and competitively without sighted assistance.
It is an appropriate game with a ball with a sound device in it, which is for blind and low vision players.
There are many other sports and what was mentioned is not all. If you are interested in knowing more about sports for people with special needs, check out our blog for more information.
