Cultural and Attitudinal Similarities—Female and Disabled Individuals in Sports and Athletics

Perceptions of Disability and their Impact upon Involvement in Sport for People with Disabilities at all Levels

“…In many ways, sport is designed to highlight and revere extremes of bodily physical perfection and, under these circumstances, it is possible to see why, for some people, the idea of elite sport for people with disabilities, and in some cases any sport at all, is an anathema. Mastro, Hall, and Canabal (1988) claimed that part of the reason for this is that "there is no culturally recognised need for competition and sports beyond therapeutic programs" (p. 81), which in itself has its roots in the schism between the socially constructed discourse of what sport is and the perceptions of disability embedded in the medical model discourse. By this I am referring to the view of sport as a means of highlighting bodily perfection and the perceptions embedded in the medical model discourse that views disability as a major form of biological imperfection.…”

The marginalisation of Paralympic heritage

“…In many ways, sport is designed to highlight and revere extremes of bodily physical perfection and, under these circumstances, it is possible to see why, for some people, the idea of elite sport for people with disabilities, and in some cases any sport at all, is an anathema. Mastro et al (1988) claim that part of the reason for this is that 'there is no culturally recognised need for competition and sports beyond therapeutic programs' (Mastro et al 1988, p. 81), which in itself has its roots in the schism between the socially constructed discourse of what sport is and the perceptions of disability embedded in the medical model discourse. This refers to the view of sport as a means of highlighting bodily perfection and the perceptions embedded in the medical model discourse that views disability as a major form of biological imperfection.…”