Enhancing sports for Japanese disabled athletes: redefining health and ability through inclusive approaches

The concepts of health and disability could be redefined to reflect a more realistic and dynamic perspective compared with the traditional definition by the World Health Organisation. Some physically disabled athletes outperform able-bodied individuals when evaluated through a holistic multidimensional approach that measures the degree of health/wellness on a dynamic continuum rather than a fixed point. Inclusive sports activities, such as triathlon competitions, have provided opportunities to establish this new perspective of health in the public consciousness as well as in the disabled community. There are particular challenges and concerns with regard to the promotion of inclusive sports for the disabled in Japan. A higher availability of and accessibility to new prosthetic technologies for partially disabled athletes, the provision of enhanced environments for the participation of disabled athletes alongside the able-bodied, and the promotion of inclusiveness in an ageing society could all have a positive impact on the health of Japanese society as a whole. Visualisation techniques are one of the new methodologies to help offer improved comprehension of the needs of physically disabled people.