Disability-Centred Safety

The Disability-Centred Safety section is meant to assist in establishing and maintaining a physically and emotionally safe curricular and intramural environment for students with disabilities and is intended to:

• provide safety considerations for students with disabilities;
• support teachers in establishing and maintaining a safe learning environment in physical education and intramural activities for students with disabilities; and
• increase teachers’ confidence in providing physical activity opportunities for every student.

In order to do this, the following tools were developed to support teachers:

• Disability-Centred Safety Considerations - provides safety considerations for the seven disability groupings identified in Ophea’s Disability-Centred Movement resource, to be used alongside the curricular and intramural elementary safety standards and secondary safety standards.
• Scenarios for Disability-Centred Safety Considerations - intended to assist in developing a better understanding of what type of safety considerations can be implemented during a classroom program.
• Sample Guiding Questions Checklist for Disability-Centred Safety - intended to support the planning process by highlighting safety considerations.

Creating a culture of safety-mindedness leads to providing every student with safer environments in which to participate in physical activity. This requires teachers to focus their attention on being aware of hazards, staying alert to possible dangers, and implementing safe practices to minimize and/or prevent injuries.

Establishing and maintaining a physically and emotionally safe environment for students with disabilities to participate in physical education and intramurals requires an ongoing commitment to knowing the individual needs of the students and ensuring their needs are prioritized.

Note: For students with an identification for Special Education learning needs, an important starting point for teachers is to review their Individual Education Plan (IEP) to understand the specific strengths, abilities, and needs of the students, including the safety equipment, assistive devices, program accommodations/modifications, and/or educational assistant support required.

For information on designing a physical education program for students with disabilities, and approaches for physical activity providers to engage students with disabilities in enriching experiences to develop their physical skills, visit Ophea's Disability-Centred Movement: Supporting Inclusive Physical Education resource.