Kansas City takes steps to serve youth with disabilities through sports, but opportunity gaps remain

The following article comes from the Aspen Institute’s State of Play Kansas City report. The report assesses the opportunities and barriers for more children to access sports and physical activity in the Kansas City region.

Brinley Hutson’s inspiring story of how she thrives as an Olathe East High School athlete with a prosthetic leg is well-documented in local media. What’s less known is how fortunate Hutson was to connect with the right organizations to keep playing sports six months after a life-saving leg amputation. Kim Hutson, Brinley’s mom, said a friend forwarded a random Facebook post advertising a track and field clinic for people with disabilities, connecting the family to The Whole Person, an organization that helps people with disabilities live independent lives.

“It was a challenge at first to connect with the right organizations to provide support,” Kim Hutson said. “We knew about some organizations that were helpful with grants, but adaptive sports were a very new concept for us, and we really didn’t know what that looked like. Getting connected with The Whole Person was huge for Brinley to really realize what else is out there.”

We heard that learning about diverse sports opportunities is a problem for all youth. This gap gets magnified for children with disabilities.

Even though several Kansas City organizations make an impact in the disability sports space, information often gets shared by word of mouth rather than systematic methods that could increase the number of participants. Only 2% of regional sports and physical activity providers focus on serving people with developmental or physical disabilities, according to preliminary research by the University of Missouri-Kansas City. 

In our youth survey, children with disabilities were more likely than their peers to say they do not play sports due to costs. Finding accessible facilities to play sports can be challenging too. Consider the case of the Kansas City Kings wheelchair basketball team, which practices at Kemper Arena and Lee’s Summit schools. “A lot of venues you can’t get into unless you’re booked years in advance,” said Matt Bollig, the Kings’ founder. “Kemper is a mecca for youth sports tournaments on weekends, but we run into problems where we can’t get in line to book it and only one elevator works there, so hosting tournaments is not possible.”

When Bollig moved to Kansas City around 2016, he noticed the region basically had no adaptive team sports programs for children. He got permission to start wheelchair basketball with Midwest Adaptive Sports, a Kansas Citybased nonprofit established in 2011 for skiing and swimming. By 2024, about 55 children played in the basketball program. Additional kids play tennis, rugby, football and softball through Midwest Adaptive Sports, which also works in some local schools to promote sports through P.E. classes.

To help alleviate costs, Variety KC provides wheelchairs for most children who participate in an organized sports program through one of its partners (Kansas City Kings, Midwest Adaptive Sports and Bloc Life for weightlifting). Children with disabilities can apply for a sports gift at varietykc.org/get-help/sports-application. Established in 1934, Variety KC provides mobility and communications equipment to children with all types of disabilities (physical or cognitive). YMCA of Greater Kansas City also provides adaptive equipment through its Challenger program.

While these opportunities benefit some children, Bollig worries most about what he calls the “hidden minority” among young people. “They may have a missing foot or ankle area, and those are the athletes we miss a lot because they think they’re not eligible to play since they don’t use a wheelchair daily,” he said. “It would be a huge opportunity for our program to reach more of those people.”

As impactful as Midwest Adaptive Sports is, there are limitations since it’s a volunteer-based organization. The Kansas City Kings are building a pipeline of future coaches — including five players now playing wheelchair basketball in college — but the program predominantly serves only Lee’s Summit and the southeast part of the Kansas City region.

“Where we struggle is inner-city schools and when all kids get older,” Bollig said. “When you get to the high school level, there’s not much here.”  

Community-Led Solutions

Bollig, the Kansas City Kings founder, suggested the region could take a page from the Chicago area’s promising recreational model to build better infrastructure to support youth with disabilities. Since 1976, the Lincolnway Special Recreation Association (LWSRA) has provided recreation services for individuals with disabilities through cooperative agreements with its eight member park districts in metro Chicago.

LWSRA serves over 400 individuals through more than 200 programs annually. Participants range from preschool through adults who have recreation needs that are not met by traditional park district programs. LWSRA programs include participation in Special Olympics Illinois, Paralympic sports, social programs, trips, special events, summer camps, after-school care and adult daytime activities. Learn more at lwsra.org.

Jon Solomon is Community Impact Director of the Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative. Jon can be reached at jon.solomon@aspeninstitute.org.