See the sport, not the disability: exploring the Paralympic paradox

Purdue, David; Howe, P. David

doi:10.1080/2159676x.2012.685102

Cited by 89 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Recent disability studies and media representation scholarship, using more critical social science perspectives, have provided nuanced and detailed analysis of disability sport, in particular the Paralympics Games (Thomas & Smith, 2003;Ellis, 2009;Purdue & Howe, 2012). There are three related critical issues from this literature -representations of the Paralympic Games and Paralympians, the Paralympic Paradox (Howe 2008), and representations of gender and disability.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

More than Sport: Representations of Ability and Gender by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) of the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games

Quinn

Yoshida

2016

CJDS

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Purpose: To examine the CBC's television coverage of two highlighted Canadian Paralympic athletes who participated at the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games held in Athens, Greece. This analysis focuses on representations of ability and gender to consider the repercussions of these representations for Paralympians, people living with physical difference, and spectators. Methods: Informed by disability studies theory and Garland- Thomson's (2000) work, qualitative research methods were used to analyze segments of CBC's television coverage of two Canadian Paralympians, one male and one female, for dominant and recurring themes. Results: Multiple positive representations of athletes were presented in the data. The dominant theme was the athletic. Though a positive alternative to negative stereotypes of ability this representation is used solely for the female athlete in this case study. The analysis of the male athlete revealed a more nuanced, complex representation. Within this analysis, the asexuality of female athletes with a physical difference is perpetuated and male hegemony within sport is reinforced. Conclusions: Media has a powerful role in the construction of social perceptions of people with physical difference. Based on this analysis, the CBC coverage promoted a more fully human portrayal of the highlighted male Paralympian. However, its representation of the female athlete continued to reinforce ableist assumptions regarding ability and the asexuality of women with a disability. Sport journalism is a powerful medium that constructs representations of people with physical difference. However, critical analyses of these representations are necessary to reinforce those that are positive and realistic representations of people with physical difference.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

More than Sport: Representations of Ability and Gender by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) of the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games

Quinn

Yoshida

2016

CJDS

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“…The focus on the sporting spectacle is, for many, regarded a more appropriate and desirable form of engagement with such mediated coverage (Purdue and Howe 2012). As 'armchair enthusiast' 'Mick' communicated enthusiastically, rearticulating the 'superhuman' discourses presented in the Channel 4 Paralympics promotional campaign:…”

Section: Analysis and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From awww to awe factor: UK audience meaning-making of the 2012 Paralympics as mediated spectacle

Hodges

Scullion

Jackson

2015

Journal of Popular Television, The

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This article considers UK audiences' meaning-making of television coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. As an elite sporting event, the Paralympics has been categorized alongside other high-profile media spectacles. Yet, an analysis of the 'spectacle' has further significance here in relation to what Mitchell and Snyder conceptualize as 'fascination with spectacles of difference', which encourages audiences to view the disabled person through their impairment, rather than as a human being. Inspirational 'supercrip' stories that glorify 'special achievement' fuel perceptions that disabled athletes have extraordinary, heroic qualities, and coverage of the 2012 Paralympics was no different. The spectacle is created through everyday talk. Therefore, we utilize in-depth interviews supported by netnography-inspired methods to consider to what extent media representations appropriated disability into 'spectacle', consequently perpetuating ablest discourses, whilst also addressing the intended social agenda by facilitating greater understanding. Our findings suggest an unexpected emotional engagement with the (mostly) sporting spectacle, with audience narratives moving from 'awww' to 'awe' as sporting achievement was celebrated. The disabled sporting 'hero' as 'superhero' is, we argue, further evidence of the influence of discourses that attempt to transform a stigmatized identity, i.e. disability, into a revered one -athleticism, thus reinforcing existing hierarchies of ability/disability.

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“…Townsend et al, 2017) and in high-performance sport, disability occupies a 74 tenuous, hierarchical and often contradictory position (cf. Purdue and Howe, 2012a). However, 75 debate about the social construction of disability in sport coaching has been noticeably absent 76 within the literature.…”

Section: : 12) 64mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It’s not about disability, I want to win as many medals as possible’: The social construction of disability in high-performance coaching

Townsend

Huntley

Cushion

et al. 2018

International Review for the Sociology of Sport

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See the sport, not the disability: exploring the Paralympic paradox

Cited by 89 publications

References 14 publications

More than Sport: Representations of Ability and Gender by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) of the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games

More than Sport: Representations of Ability and Gender by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) of the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games

From awww to awe factor: UK audience meaning-making of the 2012 Paralympics as mediated spectacle

‘It’s not about disability, I want to win as many medals as possible’: The social construction of disability in high-performance coaching

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