Empower, inspire, achieve: (dis)empowerment and the Paralympic Games

Disability as a Path to Spiritual Enlightenment: An Ethnographic Account of the Significance of Religion in Paralympic Sport

“…Within disability advocacy circles and the academic field of disability studies the body has become of central importance (Charlton, 1998;Murphy, 1987;Shakespeare, 2006). Yet there has been very little attention paid to sport as a catalyst for a "better life," this despite the fact that underpinning this overall narrative is the notion that sport can be framed as a tool for empowerment (Howe & Jones, 2006;Howe, 2011;Purdue & Howe, 2012) particularly in relation to the marketing vision of the international Paralympic committee (Howe, 2008;Jones & Howe, 2005). Indeed, much of the literature surrounding the Paralympics fails to critically evaluate the role of sport in the lives of people with impairments.…”

Young athletes and their coaches: disciplinary processes and habitus development

“…The disciplinary power of the coach to organise the practices and to differentiate hierarchically between athletes made these youngsters dependent on their coaches and made it difficult for them to resist coaching behaviours with which they disagreed. In addition, sport participation, especially selection to a skilled team, could provide these athletes with what Bourdieu (1990) called symbolic capital (see also Purdue & Howe, 2012). Sport clubs tend to be structured so that the greater the athlete's (perceived) skill, the greater the prestige, privileges and status.…”

The problem with inspiration porn: a tentative definition and a provisional critique

“…For Paralympic athletes as well as ordinary people, the crucial desirable-but-undesired element is willpower (Barrett, 2014(Barrett, , p. 1577) -which suggests that the inspirational achievements of some people not only reflects positively on the person responsible for the achievement, but reflects negatively on those who but resemble that person fail to achieve the same (Hutcheon & Lashewicz, 2014;Purdue & Howe, 2012).…”

“…In this arena, the two aspects of inspiration porn -the ordinary and the extraordinary -play off each other in a particularly uncomfortable way, for disabled as well as nondisabled audience. While Paralympic athletes are a select elite, there is an expectation that they will and should serve as credible role models for other people with impairments (Joukowsky & Rothstein, 2002;Purdue & Howe, 2012). And while athletes are encouraged to be in peak physical condition, there are strict regimes in place to ensure that they are sufficiently impaired for their category (Peers, 2009(Peers, , 2012.…”