Diffusion of Innovation: A Roadmap for Inclusive Community Recreation Services

Abstract

Inclusive community recreation is an optimal environment for the development of recreation and sports skills and social relationships between people with and without disabilities. Although we know much about best practices for inclusion, little systemic change in recreation agencies has transpired. Diffusion of Innovation Theory is proposed as a framework for understanding what must occur for inclusive recreation practices to become more systemic throughout community recreation agencies. The theory rests on the premise that aspects such as how quickly an innovation is adopted, by whom, and when are subject to predictable variables based on attributes of the innovation and characteristics of the individual or group of adopters. The theory proposes that once agencies falling into one of the first three groups have adopted an innovation, a “tipping point” is reached. The tipping point is the point after which further diffusion of the innovation becomes self-sustaining. In this case, inclusive recreation would spread quickly until it became standard operating procedure. A thorough understanding of this theory, especially as it relates to characteristics of adopter groups, could potentially provide a roadmap for change agents regarding the roles that they could play to ensure that the tipping point, where people of all abilities have ongoing access to the community, is reached.