"Sport is highly related to disability acceptance, it is highly related to employment, it's highly related to quality of life. So instead of seeing sport as a way to enhance health, it really is a way to to enhance life because it's such an important social group for people with disabilities. There's sometimes very few other outlets to engage in."
With a unique topic not often addressed in conversations in collegiate sports, today we discuss the disability sports communities and the importance of bringing those communities and student-athletes within the umbrella of formal college athletic departments. Our guest is Dr. J. P. Barfield. With over 25 years of experience in the adaptive physical activity and sports fields, Dr. Barfield’s work focuses on health related and quality of life outcomes of adaptive physical activity and disability sports. He examines both competitive and recreational sports to identify factors that help participants increase their social and health outcomes.
Doctor Barfield is the Professor and chairperson of the Department of Applied Physiology, Health and Clinical Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He received degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Appalachian State University and Middle Tennessee state.
February 1 2023
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