Shifting the Dial at ISAPA 2025: From Awareness to Transformation in AdaptedPhysical Activity

As the global conversation around equity and inclusion deepens, ISAPA 2025

emerges not just as a symposium, but as a movement, a platform for collective

action, knowledge exchange, and transformative change. Hosted under the banner

of the International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity (ISAPA), the 2025

event invites the global community to move decisively beyond mere awareness of

inequality and into the realm of responsiveness, action, and transformation.

Beyond Awareness: The Inclusion Continuum

At the heart of ISAPA 2025 lies the inclusion continuum, a conceptual guide that

urges stakeholders to evolve from passive acknowledgment of disparities to actively

reshaping systems. Awareness is only the beginning. The true challenge, and the

opportunity, is to transform that awareness into concrete, inclusive action.

This transformation demands:

• Reformed policies rooted in equity and universal design.

• Targeted investments in inclusive physical activity practices.

• Amplification of voices from historically marginalized communities.

• International cooperation to build sustainable, impactful change.

  
  

Anchoring the Mission in Global Purpose

The mission of ISAPA 2025 is deeply connected to the goals of its parent

organization, the International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity (IFAPA).

Together, they strive to advance global standards, foster research, and elevate

professional development in the field of Adapted Physical Activity (APA). With

support from partners like IMSVI, which advocates for individuals with visual

impairment and deafblindness, ISAPA 2025 embodies a collective commitment to

inclusive, safe, and high-quality physical activity experiences for all.

Aligning with Global Frameworks

ISAPA 2025 doesn’t operate in isolation—it is intentionally aligned with some of the

world’s most influential global agendas:

✦ The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

• SDG 4: Quality Education

• SDG 5: Gender Equality

• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

✦ The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD):

• Article 24: Inclusive education

• Article 25: Health care access

• Article 27: Equal employment opportunities

• Article 30.5: Participation in sport and leisure

✦ Key international initiatives:

• UNESCO’s Fit for Life: Harnessing sport for social inclusion

• Quality Physical Education (QPE): Promoting inclusive, rights-based

  learning

• Paris 2024 Call to Action: Enabling full participation in sport and public life

By grounding the symposium in these frameworks, ISAPA 2025 shows how APA can

be a powerful lever for delivering on global human rights and development

agendas.

A Call to Transformative Action

ISAPA 2025 calls on researchers, practitioners, educators, and policymakers to ask

themselves:

Where does my work sit on the inclusion continuum?

How can I help shift the dial toward real transformation?

Whether you're developing inclusive programming, conducting innovative research,

designing adaptive equipment, or crafting policy, your work has the power to make

a measurable impact. ISAPA 2025 is your opportunity to contribute to systemic

change, to collaborate across borders, and to build a more inclusive, equitable

world through the lens of physical activity.

Let ISAPA 2025 be the moment where we not only share ideas, but mobilize a

movement—one that champions equity not as an ideal, but as a lived reality.

#ISAPA2025 #ISAPA