Inclusive community recreation and best practice: an annotated bibliography

Abstract

This research aimed at examining inclusive community recreation and best practices across five English speaking countries. A literature review was conducted which covered the topic from a range of academic and professional perspectives. The study further covered websites hosted by a number of organisations which provide services for people with disabilities and have a particular focus on recreation and leisure. Both the literature and website reviews incorporate material from Canada, USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand. The search criteria specifically aimed at incorporating community recreation services in order to find programmes which utilise principles of inclusion for people with disabilities. The findings from the literature review have been presented under four broad categories, theoretical findings, best practice, those relevant to service providers, and those pertaining to service users. The review of websites is discussed briefly prior to suggestions for further research. Inclusive recreation programmes can be generally regarded as those that are accessible to people with disabilities to participate in alongside non-disabled peers. This factor distinguishes them from the separatist recreational activities provided by many organisations which cater for the needs of people with disabilities.