Insight

Paralympic legacy?

Paralympic legacy?

Looking at the legacy of the most successful Paralympics to date; the majority of respondents believe the games have had no influence on the behaviour of able-bodied adults in their treatment of disabled people. This is seen in the lack of change in the manner in which able-bodied people talk to them (83%), their awareness of their needs (75%) and their willingness to make adjustments to accommodate their needs (73%).

A third of respondents also disagree that there has been any improvement in disabled access in public transport (30%).

Nevertheless, one in ten (10%) of those interviewed felt the Paralympics inspired them to take up a new sport or re-visit a sport they did in the past.

Opinium Research carried out an online survey of 1,014 UK adults aged 18+ whose day-to-day activities are affected by long standing physical or mental impairments, conditions, illnesses or disabilities. The research was conducted from 7th to 17th of June 2013.

Interview Method and Sample

This survey is conducted online by CAWI (computer aided web interviewing), using Opinium?s online research panel of circa 30,000 individuals. This research is run from a representative sample of GB adults (aged 18+ in England, Scotland and Wales). The sample is defined from pre-collected registration data containing gender, age (18-34, 35-54, and 55+), region (North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humberside, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West, Wales, and Scotland), working status and social grade to match the latest published ONS figures.

Opinium also takes into account differential response rates from the different demographic groups, to ensure the sample is representative.