There has been an increasing number of students with disabilities studying in the public sector in Hong Kong. At the same time, the cohort of older baby boomers is growing rapidly as ageing continues in Hong Kong. This continuing situation has the potential to cause heavy burdens on the public services and additional problems such as a shortage of educational and medical resources. Students with disabilities need to experience physical activity, as developing physical literacy will enhance confidence, self-esteem, growth and development, and fitness.
This in turn is essential in promoting social, emotional, intellectual and cognitive development. Developing physical literacy for older adults is also consistent with the goal of healthy ageing, and can optimize opportunities for good health by raising awareness that an active start can contribute to sustaining independence and improved health and well-being of this population.

The IntergenrationABILITY program will be conducted on a weekly basis by instructors from the Physical Fitness Association of Hong Kong (PFAHK). The participants’ cognitive functions will be enhanced by handwriting (older adults) and drawing (students) every day. Programs such as “Bus Social Classroom”, “Photography Studio”, “Dream Big Restaurant”, and “Physical Competency Development” will be the highlights used to enhance both generations’ physical literacy, and social and communication skills.
We will also focus on enhancing the affective domain and the concept of inter-generational integration. We expect the students may be interested in working at Elderly centers as a career, and the older baby boomer participants may realize the value of the friendship and social networks.
This project is unique both in Hong Kong and worldwide because it is the first to implement physical literacy to two generations (students with disabilities and older baby boomers) at the same time, which promotes mutual support in enhancing the physical competence, cognitive functions, affective and social domains of physical literacy.

The project will lead to a convenient and powerful program and assessment tool that can be used by secondary schools with disabled students, elderly centers and elderly fitness trainers.
In the long term, the project will benefit the general public by encouraging communities of older people and secondary schools with disabled students to engage in physical activity. When framing the proposed model to chart physical literacy for these two populations, the assessment and program systems may be adopted for students with disabilities and elderly and ageing policy in education sectors and the wider community.

Students with disabilities
Older baby boomers (aged 65-75)
Carers of the older baby boomers
Teachers of students with disabilities
Volunteers from the HK association for AD/HD
Assessors/Instructors from the Physical Fitness Association of HK, China
Occupational Therapists from the NGO
CUHK student helpers

2021

Education, Social Inclusion