Stories about Physical Education from Young People with Disabilities

Abstract

This article focuses on young people with disabilities and mainstream physical education in England. Within this context there have been unprecedented levels of funding and resources directed towards physical education in order to support more inclusive physical education experiences for all young people, including those with disabilities. Physical education holds a unique place within the school curriculum; it is a subject area where the physicality of students is publicly exposed to others (including teachers, classmates, and support staff). There are likely to be some tensions around physical education and its relationship with students with disabilities. In particular, it is claimed that physical education was conceived of, and continues to be practiced, in a normative way. By drawing on interview data from three young people with disabilities, non-fictional narratives are used to re-present their identities at the intersections of schooling, physical education and disability. These narratives offer insights about how physical education impacts on various aspects of social life including home, family, friends and other school subjects.

La Investigación Narrativa en La Educación Física Y El Deporte

“…La investigación narrativa que se ocupa de las voces de colectivos discriminados ha seguido desarrollándose posteriormente (BERG SVENDBY;DOWLING, 2012;FITZGERALD;STRIDE, 2012;GROVES;LAWS, 2003;MAIVORSDOTTER;LUNDVALL, 2009;RICH, 2004;SYKES;GOLDSTEIN, 2004;WRENCH;GARRETT, 2012). Pero también se observa un interés creciente por estudios auto-narrativos que se ocupan de experiencias subjetivas diversas y de corporalidades individuales.…”

‘You do it in your own particular way.’ Physical education, gender and (dis)ability

“…Disabled students tell about classmates who do not accept them, call them names, stare at them or make fun of their capacities during the physical activity. They have experiences of not being chosen when teams are formed, and of classmates that do not pass them the ball when playing team games (Brittain, 2004;Fitzgerald, 2005;Fitzgerald & Stride, 2012;Lauruschkus et al, 2015). These negative experiences may give rise to feelings of difference and inferiority (Gaskin et al, 2012), thus affecting other parts of the disabled students' life, and can lead to avoidance of physical activity outside school and as an adult (Brittain, 2004;Fitzgerald & Stride, 2012;Gaskin et al, 2012).…”

“…Previous studies about the situation for young disabled people at school or in physical activity in general (Asbjørnslett & Hemmingsson, 2008;Barron, 1996;Bredahl, 2013;Gaskin, Andersen, & Morris, 2012;Lauruschkus, Hallström, & Nordmark, 2015;Taub & Greer, 2000) or in PE per se (Fitzgerald, 2005;Fitzgerald & Stride, 2012;van Amsterdam, Knoppers, & Jongmans, 2015) have shown that disabled students often feel excluded, singled out and picked on during lessons in PE. The 'visibility' of bodies and abilities during the lessons and in the dressing and shower rooms, with the ensuing experience of vulnerability, is underlined (Barron, 1995;Bredahl, 2013;Fitzgerald & Stride, 2012).…”

“…The 'visibility' of bodies and abilities during the lessons and in the dressing and shower rooms, with the ensuing experience of vulnerability, is underlined (Barron, 1995;Bredahl, 2013;Fitzgerald & Stride, 2012). PE teachers are reported as showing a lack of understanding, having a low opinion of disabled students and not recognizing them (Brittain, 2004;Fitzgerald, 2005;Fitzgerald & Stride, 2012).…”

“…However, not much has been written from the perspective of the disabled students themselves, and how they experience PE. The majority of research has rather focused on the teachers' attitudes towards inclusion (Fitzgerald, 2005;Fitzgerald & Stride, 2012;Smith & Thomas, 2006). Moreover, while it is well documented in studies from various countries that more girls than boys (without disabilities) dislike PE, and the underlying factors that cause this discomfort have been examined (Eriksson et al, 2003;Evans, 2006;Larsson, Fagrell, & Redelius, 2009;Olafson, 2002;van Daalen, 2005;With-Nielsen & Pfister, 2011), research about disability and PE, just like mainstream disability studies (Bê, 2012), have seldom had a gender perspective.…”