INTEGRATING LIFE SKILLS INTO SPORT FOR PERSON WITH DISABILITIES
Arasy Akbar Wotarsa

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

Abstract

Persons with disabilities are one of the groups in the world who experience discrimination the most, such as being ostracized from society, difficulty getting jobs, and political treatment among them. In various contexts, persons with disabilities do not have convenient access to health facilities, education or employment opportunities when compared to other normal people, because of their limitations they have a high probability of poverty and difficulties in the process of self-development (Mitra, Posarac, & Vick, 2013 ). Previous research said that further research is needed regarding the relationship between sports and the quality of life of persons with disabilities outside of sports, especially in the social environment and social justice (Allan, Smith, Côté, Martin Ginis, & Latimer-Cheung, 2018), then, several aspects of inclusion need researched in more depth to make the contribution of persons with disabilities in social circles, in this series of actions, sports can be a solution to make it easier for persons with disabilities to achieve social equality (Raiola & Tafuri, 2015). Sport is a facility for persons with disabilities to increase self-confidence, recognition from the community, improve the quality of social interaction, become eyes of suffering through elite sports disabilities, and make it possible to improve the quality of life (Devine et al., 2017). In order to enable persons with disabilities to have a better life in a social environment, researchers are trying to improve life skills. The link between sport skills and life skills in a sports environment is where individuals are required to learn to work together, show courage, develop themselves, practice self-control, respect rules, show sportsmanship, maintain integrity, be competitive, and show leadership qualities, respect the environment (Hermens , Super, Verkooijen, & Koelen, 2017). Sports activities can develop several components of life skills, namely persistence, goal setting, social skills, problem solving and team work (Aghdasi, 2014- Stewart, et al. 2018- Kar and Bhukar, 2013- Kohn, 2016- Zhang & Chu). Through physical activity, the development of non-sport abilities such as life skills can be carried out by means of integration through intentional arrangements (programs arranged in a structured and deliberate manner), the steps are (1) determining an appropriate program with a focus on one life skill in each each meeting, (2) provide input regarding life skills that will be learned before physical activity, (3) focus and remind life skills during physical activity, (4) strengthen life skills when physical activity is over (Kendellen, Camiré, Bean, & Forneris (2016), in this study, life skills and mental health were integrated into physical activity with intentionally structuring program.

Keywords: sport- disability- psychology

Topic: Exercise Physiology