Preferences and reasons for the lack of interest of Czech teenagers with sensory disabilities in physical education classes

The objective of this study was to compare the preferences for various physical activities and reasons for the lack of interest by Czech teenagers with sensory disabilities in physical education classes. A non-standardized questionnaire was used to collect the data. The sample was based on the following features: a) a participant had to be deaf or hard of hearing, b) a participant had to have a visual impairment, and c) had to have been educated in special educational settings. In this study participated 24 teenagers who are deaf or hard of hearing (16 boys and 8 girls, an average age of 14.3 ± 1.2 years) and 26 teenagers with a visual impairment (16 boys and 10 girls, an average age of 14.1 ± 1.2 years). Both absolute and relative frequencies were used to describe the data. The differences between teenagers who are deaf or hard of hearing and teenagers with a visual impairment were assessed using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test, the chi-squared test and, for low frequencies, the Fisher's exact test. Tests were performed at a level of α = 0.05. Statistical tests did prove significant difference in preference for the various physical education where most of teenagers who are deaf or hard of hearing preferred athletics and football in physical education classes. Further, in leisure activities, teenagers who are deaf or hard of hearing significantly more often do sports activities, while teenagers with a visual impairment are more sedentary. Our results have proven that, besides sport, the most frequently preferred leisure activity in both-groups was computers and possibly mobile technologies.