Experiences and Perceptions of Young Adults with Physical Disabilities on Sports

Abstract

People with disabilities seldom get a chance to voice their opinions on their sport experiences. A deeper understanding of the context-related experiences of sport is a prerequisite for teachers and leaders to be able to provide adequate, inclusive and meaningful activities. The aim of this qualitative case study was to examine how young people with disabilities made sense of sport, within both the compulsory school system and the voluntary sports movement. The study involved 10 young adults (aged 16 to 29 years) with disabilities, five males and five females. All the participants had rich experiences of sport. An inductive approach to qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews was used to enable individuals to explain and give meaning to their experiences of sport including those pertaining to gender and inclusion. The findings illustrated that dominating gender and ability norms influenced the interviewees' understanding of themselves in relation to sport; as a consequence, some of the female interviewees had a more diverse, sometimes contradictory experience of sport than the male interviewees. The basic premise of this study is that researchers can develop more insightful understandings of inclusion by studying the subjective meanings that are constructed by people with disabilities in their sport experiences.

Unequal physical activity among children with cerebral palsy in Sweden—A national registry study

“…These schools should be equipped to provide adequate participation in activities that also allow social inclusion with other students, rather than specifically designed individual activities, as earlier highlighted by adolescents with disabilities. 38 The results of this study indicate that the Swedish government has not achieved its 2010 target of full availability per the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 39 when it comes to physical education and leisure activities. Moreover, during the last decade, the Swedish Law on Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (LSS) has become more strictly enforced, leading to restrictions in aid for persons with disabilities.…”

“…These schools should be equipped to provide adequate participation in activities that also allow social inclusion with other students, rather than specifically designed individual activities, as earlier highlighted by adolescents with disabilities. 38 …”

Participatory research with young people with special educational needs and disabilities: a reflective account

“…Making participatory research work for young people is SEND is imperative for our field. For too long the voices of young people with SEND have been marginalised and omitted from research concerning their sporting provisions (Wickman 2015). Young people with SEND are key stakeholders in their own lives; therefore, any such research without them is incomplete (Coates and Vickerman 2013;Vickerman and Maher 2019).…”

“…Research design is a primary consideration as inappropriate design has been a contributing factor in marginalising the voices of young people with SEND in research, particularly regarding their experiences in sport (Wickman 2015;Fitzgerald 2009). Recognition of this marginalisation encourages researchers to be creative, as traditional qualitative methodologies and methods such as interviews and focus groups are often inappropriate for research with young people with SEND (Nind et al 2013;Fitzgerald and Jobling 2009).…”

Voice, vlogs and visibility: the experiences of young people with SEND engaging in the school games

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The voices of young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have historically been omitted from research concerning their sporting experiences and provisions (Coates & Vickerman, 2013;Wickman, 2015). Consequently, this paper, informed by innovative participatory methods for exploring the experiences of young people with SEND who engaged in UK School Games, offers insight on inclusive school sport from the perspectives of young people with SEND.

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